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A child aged 11 years was emotionally distressed and the parents disputed the reasons for this distress.  The mother reported that the child suffered violent and unpredictable mood changes when he would attack the mother verbally and would become abusive...

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...

Parents of twins aged two years separated and the mother lived with her own parents and the children lived with the father.  The mother had been detained to a psychiatric hospital following the end of a...

Children were aged 8 years, 6 years and 18 months.  The children showed a stronger attachment to the mother as illustrated after they had been separated from the mother for a period of ten days. The...

  The parents separated before the child was born.  The child who was aged 7 years at the time of the hearing had lived with the mother for six years before a family court issued an...

The child was aged 6 years at the time of the hearing, and had been previously cared for by the mother, father and paternal grandmother.  The mother was aged 16 years when the child was born,...

A separated couple had 2 children aged 10 and 12 years. The children had been exposed to 5 years of bitter dispute between the parents. The mother alleged the father had a mental health condition that...

  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 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...

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...

The mother had a history of making allegations against various people, including against the father, with one conviction being recorded.  The parents made counter-allegations of violence and abuse.  A consultant reported that the mother apparently gained...

The case involved an appeal by a mother against orders made by a trial judge.  The couple separated after being together for 7 years and having two children.  In 2000 a judge ordered that the children...

A trial judge granted sole parental responsibility to one parent and the other parent appealed.  The trial judge found that the two parents had not exchanged information and had not cooperated with each other or told...

The Appeal Court ruled that when no parenting orders have been issued by a court then parents may exercise their parental responsibility by making either an independent decision or a joint decision.  Once an order has been issued...

Mellick & Mellick 2014 FamCAFC 236 A trial judge granted sole parental responsibility to one parent and the other parent appealed.  The trial judge found that the two parents had not exchanged information and had not...

Shared Time for Infants A policy document by the Australian Association for Infant Mental Health Inc. provides guidelines for the following situations: overnight stays for infants under 2 years away from a primary caregivers can create...

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...