family violence

Parents had separated 7 years earlier.  A trial judge found that the father of children aged 12 and 10 years had engaged in a pattern of emotionally abusive behaviour that undermined the children’s relationships with their mother, and...

A judge found that the father’s text messages to the mother were derogatory, intimidating and threatening and constituted family violence against her and that the father must desist from this behaviour (emotional abuse).  The judge found that granting...

An assessment by a family consultant raised serious questions about the parenting capacity of both parents of children aged 6 and 7 years.  The consultant recommended that the child protection department be invited to intervene if concerns were...

A father who had difficulty with reading and writing was self-represented at trial.  The Court granted the father a McKenzie Friend to assist in conducting proceedings. The judge found that the father had perpetrated family violence.  The judge ordered...

The father acknowledged that he had behaved towards the mother in a manner that was mean spirited and verbally abusive towards the mother at times, and that some of this behaviour had occurred in front of the children.  The father at...

Both parties wanted to restrict the child’s relationship with the other to occasional supervised visits, either temporarily or permanently.  It was common ground that the mother had refused to allow the child to spend any time with...

A child aged 10 years had spent limited time with the father, and the mother alleged the child was at risk of harm in the father’s care as family violence had occurred during their brief relationship.  The...

The case involved five children who had been placed on the Magellan list due to allegations of sexual abuse and family violence.  The father had a considerable criminal record and had a demonstrated predilection towards having sexual relationships...

  A trial judge made orders enabling the father to spend time with the children, conditional upon a number of factors including successful completion of a three month residential rehabilitation program and completion of parenting programmes.  The father...

The mother of a child aged 4 years at the time of the hearing had been subjected to intense and long term verbal abuse.  The mother applied to relocate to be with her extended family and to provide some relief...

A mother alleged that the father had sexually abused an older daughter of the mother from another relationship when that child was aged 8 years. The mother also alleged that the father was unable to control his anger without...

The case involved a child aged 5 years.  The judge found that while it is standard practice for a family consultant to observe interactions between a child and parent following interviews, the consultant has discretion about...

The case involved a girl aged 12 years whose parents had been in ongoing conflict since they separated when she was aged 5 years (intractable conflict).  The child was described as mature. The judge noted there...

The parents of children aged 13, 11 & 9 years had separated 7 years earlier.  The mother alleged that during the relationship the father had perpetrated family violence upon her, and that the children’s refusal to see or...

There were interim consent orders for the child to live with the father and spend time with the mother.  Reports from the District Court showed that the mother’s new partner and fiancé had been convicted of multiple counts...

A mother alleged that the father assaulted her on the day she was discharged from a maternity hospital with twins.  Staff of the Department of Human Services stated they would remove the children if the mother did not...

After separating the mother of children aged 4 years and 7 months lived 32 kilometres from the father who saw his children every fortnight.  The father re-partnered and the mother had difficulty adjusting to his new...

A mother separated due to complaints of family violence.  The mother reported that the father was both controlling and emotionally abusive towards her in the presence of children aged 9 and 10 years, and that he...

A complaint was made to the Registration Board AHPRA about the conduct of a treating psychologist. A couple had received couple counselling from the psychologist, then decided to separate.  The wife continued to see the psychologist...

The mother appealed against an order for equal shared parental responsibility.  The father had not seen the child for 15 months before the trial, and did not attend the hearing (contact limited).  The judge found that...

Parents disputed the living arrangement of a child aged 4 years with mild autism.  Both parents acknowledged that the child’s behaviour was at times trying.  The father reported that the mother frequently became angry over the...

The family included six children under the age of 15 years.  The children did not spend time with their father following incidents of family violence.  Two oldest children lived with the paternal grandfather, and the grandfather...

A family violence order had been taken about against the father whose children were aged 8 and 5 years.  The parents were a high conflict couple.  The father had participated in supervised contact with the children,...

The case involved a child aged 13 years.  The parents were unable to communicate due to a history of family violence, and both parents had a history of significant alcohol abuse that impaired their parenting capacity....

The father sought supervised time with children aged 9 and 6 years.   The mother alleged family violence and asked that the father have no direct contact with the children.   The children had witnessed an incident when...

A child aged 7 years who lived with the mother refused to continue to spend supervised time with her father, and no contacts had been arranged for a year despite efforts (refused contact).   Both parents had...

The case involved three children aged 12, 11 and 8 years who lived with the mother and spent time with their father and his extended family at the house of a grandparent. Tensions arose over an...

A child aged 3 years lived with the mother and spent time with the father.  The judge ordered that the time spent with the father increase in a graduated approach according to the child’s age as...

  The case involved a boy aged 9 years who had lived with his mother.  The mother re-partnered and had two younger children.  The father expressed concern that the child was exposed to family violence in the...

  The case involved three children aged 8, 6 and 4 years.   The father alleged that the mother had over a long period of time before and after their separation threatened him and the children (family violence)....

Parents separated when a child was aged 4 years.  The father acknowledged family violence including threats to kill both the mother and child.  A final order was made for the child to live with the mother...

The mother and her young adult daughter alleged that the father engaged in family violence.  Evidence was given that the parents were a high conflict couple who exposed the child aged ten years to their arguments...

This article first describes traditional concepts about parenting styles, and then reports a study of parenting styles that are seen in a family law context. TRADITIONAL CONCEPTS OF PARENTING STYLE Researchers distinguish different broad approaches for...

The child aged 7 years had been in the primary care of the mother until the child disclosed incidents of family violence that had been perpetrated by the mother’s partner in a new relationship.  The child...

The mother began an intimate relationship with her first partner when aged 16 years producing her first child (young parent).  When the relationship ended both parents were teenagers and both returned to live with their own...

Separated parents had children aged 13 and 10 years.  The father had a history of an episode of major depression and of suicidal tendencies.  The father had made threats to the mother and children and the...

The case involved a mother who was reluctant to acknowledge that her older child was exposed to a sufficiently grave risk that the mother needed to choose between protecting her child and have a continuing relationship...

The case involved allegations that the father had participated in sexual abuse with children aged 7 and 6 years at the time of the hearing.  The parents separated after the mother expressed concern about the way the...

The case involved siblings who were separated, as one child aged 12 years initially lived with the father while twins aged 9 years lived with the mother (sibling separation). An expert reported that the father exhibited...

Both parents migrated to Australia.  The parents separated when their child was aged 2 years, and the father did not see the child for the next 4 years, in part because the mother travelled overseas.  The...

The father left the mother and later established a new relationship (re-partnered).  The father then applied for his 10 year old daughter to live with him although she would be separated from her two older siblings...

The case involved two boys, C aged 8 and T aged 4 years.  Ms J was the mother of both boys, from different fathers Mr T and Mr C.  The boys lived with their maternal grandparents ...

A mother left the father when twins were aged 6 weeks old, moving into a Women’s Shelter and alleging family violence.  The father denied the domestic violence and claimed that the mother had used him to obtain...

A judge ordered that each parent may phone to communicate with their four children while the children were in the care of the other parent, and that each parent take reasonable steps to provide privacy for...

Four children aged 13, 12, 7 and 5 years had lived with their mother and spent time with their father.  The father then informed police that he had explosives in his house, leading to a siege...

A couple separated and had a son aged 7 years at the time of the hearing.  The mother re-partnered. The child lived with the mother and spent time with the father.  The father requested sole parental...

A couple divorced with daughters aged 10 and 8 years.  The father had been the breadwinner while the mother cared for the children.  The mother alleged the father had shown disinterest in the children and had...

Parents disputed arrangements for three children aged 11, 7 and 6 years.  The mother gave evidence that the father had not attended for 46 of 50 arranged visits (parental attitude).  The father noted that his own...

Two girls were aged 5 and 6 years.  The girls lived with their mother who had chronic schizophrenia and their grandmother.  The mother had a further child aged 14 years who lived with her father.  The...

Evidence was presented that the mother of a 9 year old boy had a long standing schizoaffective disorder following a post-partum psychosis, where the condition was managed by medication provided by a multi-disciplinary team, and that...

Parents separated when the child was aged 9 months.  The child lived with the mother and did not see the father for the next year, and then commenced fortnightly visits at a contact centre.  The child...

The case involved a child aged 7 years who was reluctant to visit her father (reluctant to contact).  A child protection service had assessed the family and found no current concerns about child protection although there...

Parents disputed arrangements for a 10 year girl who had lived with her mother and who objected to spending time with her father (reluctant to contact).  Evidence was presented that there was a history of family...

A 2 year old boy lived with his mother and spent time with his father.  The father sought an order by complaining that the mother had failed to arrange for the son to be present at a...

A mother alleged that she had been subjected to family violence and took two children aged 8 and 6 years to visit members of her extended family overseas.  The mother returned only because of a court...

The father had arrived in Australia on a visitor’s visa and sought a visa for permanent residency.  The father had been in relationships with two women (Ms A & Ms D) within a 2 year period and...

A couple separated having 2 children aged 11 and 10 years.  The parents agreed their children had observed one physical altercation when police were called.  The children initially spent time with the father while living with the mother. ...

A couple had two children aged 7 and 5 years who had lived with the mother.  The mother had declined to facilitate contact with the father because of the father’s history of family violence including verbal...

The case involved two children aged 15 and 13 years who had lived primarily with their mother following the separation of the parents.  The judge found that the older child expressed a strong and clear view...

A couple with 3 children separated with the children living with their mother with a shared parental responsibility arrangement.   The father sought time with the children, and this was opposed by the mother. The mother alleged that the father...

A couple separated one year after having a daughter and then engaged in constant litigation and had been a high conflict couple for 4 years.  The mother alleged she had been subjected to family violence in the...

A couple had lived together for 13 years before separating and had 2 children aged 12 and 9 years.  They had been litigating for 4 years and disputed a range of topics including which school one...

A couple had three children aged 10, 9 and 8 years.  Interim orders had been made for the children to live with the father and to spend time with the mother.  When the case was reviewed...

Parents of children aged 12 and 10 years had been separated with an order granting the father fortnightly access that was supervised until the children were aged 12 years.  The father had displayed family violence by...

The judge noted that a rule of estoppel means that generally it is not in the interests of a child to have repeated applications concerning custody and access raised in a Court.  There must be an...

A couple disputed parenting orders, with the father alleging neglect while the child had been in the care of the mother, and the mother alleging family violence by the father (mutual accusations).  The mother and her...

Evidence was given that the father of a 6 year old had a psychotic condition of schizoaffective disorder and had exhibited family violence.  The father’s own family had taken out apprehension of violence orders (AVO) against...

Before separation the mother had been the primary carer for two children aged 8 and 6 years.  Following separation the children lived with the father and spent time with the mother.  The mother had a diagnosis...

A mother of children aged 7.5 years and 5.5 years alleged that the father had been violent throughout their relationship and this had continued after their separation.  The alleged family violence included isolation, controlling behaviour, dominance,...

A separated couple attended post-separation courses, and contact by the father was supervised by an agency (supervision by agency).  The mother reported to the family law court that she had received two phone calls from a...

The case involved a 4 year old girl whose parents had separated in the year of her birth, and who lived with the mother.   Several significant disputes between the parents were discussed in court.  The father...

A couple had been together for 10 years and had two children. Several incidents involving the parents were raised in court, with different accounts being given by the two parents.  On one occasion the mother called...

A couple lived together for a short time and had a son aged 18 months when the case went to court.  The mother had a second child aged 6 years from a previous relationship. The mother...

A couple had 4 children, KB aged 7 years, TG aged 3 years and twins WB and JB aged 9 months.  The mother had two older children who were on child protection orders and who lived...

Legislation in Australia allows people to apply for three types of intervention that affect family members: a parenting order from a Family Law Court (Family Circuit Court) a child protection order from a Children’s Court an...

COAG – Levels of Parenting The Council of Australian Governments COAG considered child protection matters in 2009 after state governments expressed concern about the increasing numbers of children being removed from the care of their birth...