A GROUP of mothers have held a protest outside the Courts in Belfast calling for an overhaul to the workings of the family court system here.
Protective Mothers NI is a group protesting mums against what they call family court injustices in the North, advocating for mothers' rights with the aim of protecting children from the impact of court proceedings.
The group claim the family court system is flawed with an abusive ex-partner prioritised over safety, while their voices are silenced.
Speaking to the Andersonstown News at the protest on Thursday, a representative from the group told us: "We are protesting today to raise awareness of the injustice of the family court system. It often silences protective parents, ignores trauma and prioritises procedure over protection.
"It is also unfair on the children who do not have a voice in the family courts here.
"If you’re a protective mother trying to shield your child from an abusive father, the system isn’t just against you – it actively works to silence you.
"It doesn’t matter if you have evidence of abuse. It doesn’t matter if your child is terrified of contact. It doesn’t even matter if social services previously agreed with your concerns.
"The second you stand in court and say, 'I need to protect my child', the whole system turns on you. Suddenly, you’re accused of parental alienation, labelled as hostile, and treated like you’re the problem, not the abuser.
"The same professionals who are supposed to put the child’s welfare first will sit in court and talk about the rights of the father like they outweigh the safety and emotional wellbeing of the child.
"Even when there’s a history of domestic abuse, the court will twist itself into knots to preserve contact at all costs, because in this broken system, it’s contact over safety.
"It’s a system where abusers weaponise the court to maintain control, where social workers rewrite history every time it suits them, and where protective mothers are forced to fight for basic safety – not because they’ve done anything wrong, but because they dared to speak out.
"This is why so many mothers are silenced. This is why so many children are failed. This is why the system needs to change.
"There was also a report by Ray Jones in 2023 which was an Independent Review of Children’s Social Care Services which included changes to the family court system. That report has been sitting up at Stormont for nearly two years and nothing has been implemented or changed.
"Our message to politicians is simple – listen to us and work with us."
