Darwish & Darwish 2014 FamCA 290

A family consultant recommended that an infant’s time with his father should follow a graduated approach, starting at two occasions with the father during the week. It should then be moved to one overnight stay and then into two overnight stays, but that overnight time was not recommended for children under three years of age.  The consultant recommended that two older girls could see their father weekly or fortnightly, and the infant should see him more frequently but for shorter times.

The judge noted that in an interim order he must consider only the uncontested evidence and the evidence that arose on the first day of a Less Adversarial Trial.  Doctors expressed the view that the father’s epilepsy was controlled and did not inhibit or impair his capacity to care for his children.