capacity to protect

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...

Three children were involved born of two fathers.  The oldest child lived with its father and the two younger children had been removed from the mother at birth.  An issue was whether the maternal grandparents were...

A child aged 11 years was described by the mother as intelligent and strong-willed (temperament). The judge noted that the child had been put in a position where the child determined what she will do with her father, and...

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...

Parents of children aged 10, 8 and 6 years had been involved in ongoing intractable conflict.  The children had development and psychological/emotional problems and the parents disputed the reasons for this (child’s behaviour).  One child had...

The father of children aged 15 and 13 years alleged that his ex-partner’s new husband posed an unacceptable risk of sexual abuse as the new husband was on the sexual offenders register following an incident 7 years...

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 mother was ordered to have supervised access with her child aged 13 years but she found it too difficult to meet conditions set by a contact centre.  The mother had alleged sexual abuse of the...

  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 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...

Parents of children aged 9 and 4 years separated.  The father re-partnered.   Soon after the mother reported that the children exhibited increased anxiety and the mother withheld the children.  The mother demanded that the father participate...

  A mother alleged that two girls aged 3 and 6 years had been subjected to sexual abuse by their father. The mother submitted 169 items of information to support her concerns. The judge found that,...

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 case involved parents of children aged 7 and 3 years.   Parents had been unable to make joint decisions on two major long term issues involving education and health care.  The mother wanted the children to attend...

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 a child aged 13 years whose parents had separated when she was aged 8 years, where the parents engaged in ongoing conflict (high conflict couple).  Final orders had been made for the child...

Parents had disputed custody of their child aged 10 years over 8 years, with 4 family reports having been obtained.  Both parents alleged that the child was at risk of harm while in the care of the...

The case involved a boy aged nearly 12 years who had lived in a shared care arrangement between both parents.  The parents had prolonged arguments before court about the boy since he was aged 6 months...

A trial judge ordered that a father have sole parental responsibility for a child aged 3 years, and that the child live with the father and spend time with the mother.  The mother was ordered to...

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 ...

The case involved a 6 year old boy whose parents had separated when he was aged 17 months, who then lived with his mother.   The mother re-partnered when the boy was 2 years old.  The mother...

A trial judge ordered that a 5 year old child live with the mother and spend time with the father.  There was a further order that if the mother’s treating psychiatrist determined that the mother was...

A couple were married for 4 years before separation, with 2 children aged 10 and 7 years.   Both parents had re-married. One daughter had special needs due to a global developmental delay, and she received regular...

A couple had a son aged 9 years at the time of judgement.  The couple had lived separately under the same roof for a period.   The father ceased being the earner for the household following a...

A couple had an order for shared care. The mother then applied to relocate with three children aged 10, 8 and 5 years to a town 78km away. The trial judge allowed the relocation. The father...

A couple had two children aged 13 and 7 years.  An initial order for shared care granted 9 days to the mother and 5 days to the father.  The mother applied for the order to be...

Three children aged 7 years, 5 years and 4 years had been removed from the care of both parents on a short term custody order.  Both parents participated in polysubstance abuse and had other shortcomings.  The...

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...

The Family Law Act refers to ‘reasonable grounds to believe.’  The judge found that facts that provide reasonable grounds for a suspicion or belief do not lead to a positive finding of abuse or violence. Probability...