Former Spice Girl and domestic abuse campaigner Melanie Brown MBE, also known as Mel B, has collected almost 25,000 signatures – after launching a petition with charity Women’s Aid for the Judicial College to commit to compulsory ongoing training and the government to implement the recommendations of the Harm Panel Report.
The America’s Got Talent Judge and pop icon became an advocate for domestic abuse after settling in court against her estranged husband Stephan Belafonte and their former nanny Lorraine Giles. Mel B alleged the pair conspired to release explicit footage of her online and has described her marriage as ‘very much an abusive relationship’ in her book 2018 Brutally Honest, where she claims she ‘almost lost her life’ in the marriage.
Now, the former pop star has teamed up with UK domestic abuse charity Women’s Aid, of which she has been a patron since 2018, to create a petition, after stating: “Women tell Women’s Aid going to the family courts can be as bad as the abuse itself. Women who are scared for their children’s lives – knowing that abusers can and do harm and even kill their children on contact visits”.
The petition calls for the government to execute the recommendations of the latest Harm Panel Report, which assesses the risk of harm to children and parents in private family law cases.
The latest Harm Panel Report made recommendations for a major overhaul of the family court process in child arrangement cases, including: Establishing Pilot Pathfinder Courts in North Wales and Dorset to improve information sharing and support for victims, allowing independent domestic violence advocates and independent sexual violence advocates to access the family court, restricting the use of intimate images in family proceedings and shifting from an ‘adversarial approach’ to a safety focused and trauma-aware approach.
Women’s aid say that 60 per cent of child arrangement cases in England and Wales feature domestic abuse and that the government should be ‘held accountable’ for 2020 panel report’.
Women’s Aid and Mel B have said on the petition, which was launched earlier this month: “The family courts are not safe for survivors of domestic abuse – judges need training now from experts working with abused women and children like Women’s Aid.“We know that around 60% of child arrangement cases in England and Wales feature domestic abuse – yet many judges don’t understand and call it ‘parental conflict’. Women who are scared for their children’s lives – knowing that abusers can and do harm and even kill their children on contact visits – are called troublemakers or accused of being manipulative when they try to protect them. Orders are being made in the family court every day that force women and children into contact with dangerous abusers – women tell Women’s Aid going to the family courts can be as bad as the abuse itself.
“Judges need to know what they are talking about when they make decisions, and to do this they need training – not training they have designed themselves, but training with domestic abuse experts like Women’s Aid.”“On behalf of survivors of domestic abuse, I, Melanie Brown MBE, am calling for the Judicial College to commit to compulsory ongoing training that is designed and delivered with experts. I am also calling government to be accountable for this and taking forward the recommendations in the Harm Panel Report 2020, including an urgent change that where there is domestic abuse or serious harm, we do not presume there should be contact – children’s safety always has to come first. Our research shows that survivors do not feel that they have been listened to or their concerns acted on – it is not good enough, and we cannot wait any longer.
“At Women’s Aid we have written two reports on the family courts – 29 Child Homicides and 19 Child Homicides, which all explain how children were killed because of unsafe contact decisions. Support this petition now and help us save children’s lives.”
