Professor Helen Rhoades

Overview

Professor Helen Rhoades is an Honorary Professorial Fellow in the Melbourne Law School. She has published widely in the area of family and children's law and is co-editor with Rosemary Sheehan and Nicky Stanley of Vulnerable Children and the Law (2012). She has conducted a number of major research projects in the field, including investigations of the process and effects of family law reform, the links between law and social practices, and the factors that support and inhibit inter-professional collaboration within the family law system. Professor Rhoades has a particular interest in policy issues affecting the delivery of services to vulnerable families. She is a past Chair of the Family Law Council (2010 to 2016), where she lead reviews of parentage law, improving the family law system for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families, and improving service delivery to families with complex needs. Helen was appointed as a Commissioner of the Australian Law Reform Commission in 2017 to lead a review of the family law system. She is a co-ordinator with Professor Belinda Fehlberg and Professor John Tobin of the Melbourne Law School's Family & Children's Law Research Group.