On 11 May 2018, Aaron Cockman’s life changed forever. He learnt that his four children had been shot dead at the family home near Margaret River in Western Australia – the ultimate act in a family break-up that had been through the family court system. Three other family members, including his ex-wife Kat, died in the family tragedy that shocked a nation. Many throughout Australia shared in Aaron’s grief.
A master carpenter by trade, born and raised in Australia’s south-west, Aaron explains how his own family tragedy unfolded and why this new foundation is so important: “When my wife Kat and I split up, we needed help and support. We still used to go to the movies as a family or down to the beach at Margs after we separated. But it was a really difficult and vulnerable time and what we needed was a strong system of counselling, coaching, mediation and community support. What we got instead was lawyers and a frightening, unaffordable family court system. The moment Kat and her parents got a lawyer involved, everything changed. It was the lawyer system that drove events in our family and the terrible financial cost and long timescale of the family court made it so much more stressful for Kat’s family.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJGP57X_XHo&t=69s
When Aaron made his first plane trip in 16 years to visit Canberra in August 2018, it made national TV news and headlines in the mainstream media around Australia. Politicians and judges alike heard our message of the risks to children of allowing them to be exposed to lawyers and family courts.
“I loved Taye, Rylan, Ayre and Kayden so much. I miss each of them every day and I miss Kat too. I want to make sure that this never happens again to any other family,” Aaron said in a letter sent to every Australian federal politician in January. “There is one thing, I know, that would have made all the difference: a completely different approach to family separation. One that kept kids and their families away from lawyers and family courts.”