major long term issues

  A child aged 2 years had lived primarily with the father since separation, and the mother applied for the child to live with her for equal time.  When the relationship ended the father withheld the child and 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...

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...

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...

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 judge ruled that even when a high conflict couple display intractable conflict where the parents continue with polarised attitudes, children should have the benefit of each of their polarized parents having input into the major long...

The children in the case were aged 11 and 8 years when the case concluded.  The family lived together until an incident occurred.  In the following year the children were reported to be very disturbed and...

The couple had twins aged 6 years at the time of the hearings.  The couple separated when the twins were 7 months old, and the twins lived with the mother and spent time with the father. ...

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...

A mother applied for sole parental responsibility to make decisions both about the daily welfare and long-term issues on behalf of a 2.5 year old child, even while the child was living with the father, including arranging haircuts. ...

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...

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...

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...

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...