Brick & Brick 2015 FamCA 427

The case involved two children aged 14 and 12 years who lived with their mother and had no contact with their father for two years (contact limited).  The children had an older sister aged 19 years from another father.  The older sister had complained of sexually inappropriate behaviour by the father towards her and the father had been charged with six offences but was acquitted.  Nonetheless the mother then tried to exclude the father from the lives of the younger children.  The father applied for unrestricted access to the younger children.  The father wrote to one child that living without her was like living without colour.

The children informed the consultant they did not want to spend time with or communicate with their father, as they believed what their older sister said about the sexual abuse.

The judge ordered that the children live with the mother and spend time with the father according to the child’s wishes and on their initiative.