Dad Throws Daughter, Darcey Freeman, Off Bridge

In yet another horrific example of the Shared Parenting Disaster, a 4 year girl was thrown off a bridge and murdered in front of her two young brothers by the children's father. Arthur Phillip Freeman, 35, suddenly stopped his family car – which also had his two young sons inside – and, with young Darcey Iris in his arms, walked to the side of the West Gate Bridge, just after 9 a.m. on January 29, 2009. She was thrown over the railing and fell about 190 feet to the water. She survived the fall, but rescuers were unable to save her. The father then took off with the boys. About an hour later, the father appeared at the family courts and was taken into custody. The boys were picked up by their mother. The father is under suicide watch and receiving psychiatric care in custody. To read the full story click here: Australian Throws Daughter Off Bridge to Death, Police Say

This father had shared parenting, and unsupervised visitation, so the father's rights guys can't use the usual nonsense about how shared parenting would keep the guy from killing the kids. There is nonsensical ideology being pushed that does not work. Children are not being kept safe from abuse. Sharing parenting does not work in every single case. In fact, it only works if the parents get along fairly well and both are responsible, which is not that common in divorce. In cases of domestic abuse, there should NEVER be shared parenting. It is a recipe for disaster. In this terrible case where the daughter was killed, and not the sons, what kind of selection process was going on for which child would be targeted? Was the daughter less important than the sons? Was there anger at females in general? What was the history of this family? The mother certainly seemed to be doing everything she could to keep her children safe, but the courts order women to turn their children over to the fathers in case after case like this.

Australia, as well as the US, Canada, UK and many other countries have had Father's Rights Activists who have worked for years setting up these laws that endanger women and children. One of the worst changes has been taking children away from their mothers, which now seems to be routine based on the "research" (biased studies aimed at achieving specific results) of misogynistic freaks like Richard Gardner and his followers. When mothers go to court begging for protection for themselves and their children they are met with re-victimization through the legal system. Women are accused of lying and coaching children to lie. Sometimes women lose custody altogether and the children live with the abuser, while the protective parent is denied visitation. It seems there were a lot less children's deaths when divorce meant mom, the natural caretaker, got the kids, and they visited dad every other weekend. And in abuse cases, when the mom was listened to, there was no visitation. This really works to prevent child abuse, and it doesn't involve years of litigation, or years of therapy, or years of parenting coordination, and it doesn't cost anywhere near as much money. The children are safe and happy when the protective parent gets custody. It's so simple that it is hard to believe that this isn't being done!

Don't let this child's horrific death mean nothing. It must be a catalyst to change the laws to protect children from family violence. There needs to be a sense of outrage that the courts are allowing these tragedies to occur with alarming frequency. Darcey's death maybe the most recent in Australia, and so terribly tragic, but it unfortunately is not an isolated incident. The murders make the headlines after it is too late, but there are other tragedies that occur on ongoing basis like awarding custody and visitation to abusers while punishing the protective parent. Read Darcey Freeman's death must be catalyst for change for more on the family court crisis.

The system needs to be changed. Forced shared parenting doesn't work. Children's safety should be most important in custody decisions. The truth of the matter is that men commit 90% of all murders overall, and they commit 90% of the familicides based on research from the Violence Policy Center. To look at some statistics on murder-suicide, check out American Roulette. Despite the blatant attempts by Father's Rights Activists to claim that violence is mutual, that more women are responsible for the deaths of children, on and on and on, it's time to get real and use real facts and not phony studies. The statistics on family murders show 90% committed by men. This is another form of domestic abuse, and this fact cannot be ignored. To find out more about assessing lethality in relationships, check out "will he kill"

Contact you local lawmaker with your concerns for children's safety and demand that some action be taken. The media also needs to keep publishing these stories, as tragic as they are, so that something will be done to stop these tragedies. Also, click onthe link to sign the international petition to Stop Judicial Abuse.