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Abbey’s Project
Abbey’s Project is a Discussion Paper written by Bravehearts that highlights the failings of the Family Law System.
Published in June 2016, Abbey’s Project Discussion Paper puts forward 30 recommendations, the first being that a Royal Commission is established to scrutinise the failed Family Law System in Australia.
About Abbey’s Project Discussion Paper
Real stories of families who have been let down by the Family Law System informed Abbey’s Project, including the story of Abbey (pictured below). Abbey died by suicide when she was only a young teenager, after being allowed by the Courts to spend time with her father; a convicted child sex offender.
‘My teenage daughter died by suicide after the Family Law System allowed her father, a convicted child sex offender, access to her when she was just a child.’ ~ Gill, Abbey’s mother
READ ABBEY’S PROJECT DISCUSSION PAPER
(Trigger warning: contains distressing content about child sexual abuse)
Abbey's Story
“My teenage daughter died by suicide after the Family Law System allowed her father, a convicted child sex offender, access to her when she was just a child.
The Family Court System failed my little girl. And they failed me, a protective mother, who in my attempt to protect my children from contact with their abusive father, faced being dismissed as a ‘hysterical woman’ and a ‘vindictive wife’.
How can this happen?
Read MoreIn Abbey’s Words
I am broken
I was only a girl
hiding under my sheets
you took away all my innocence
left me dead inside
You left me alone
to work it all out by myself
confused and lost I walked
through the tunnels of pain
You left me alone
after those nights
my silent tears never heard
my roar inside left to burn out
You stole me from my cave
abused my soul and took my trust
ditched it in a hole
and left me in the cold
I’m broken now
torn and ripped in pieces
I fight to repair the damage
but your breath remains on my chest
~ By Abbey (written before her death)