mental health

A maternal great aunt and uncle applied for final parenting orders.  Evidence was given that the child protection department had expressed concerns about a range of topics related to the mother including her alleged drug addictions, criminal behaviour, verbal and...

A mother aged 20 years who experienced mental health and drug issues applied for clarification of the requirements of a supervision order for a child aged 3 years.  The child had lived with his maternal grandfather since the...

  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...

A child aged 12 years had special needs due to mild cerebral palsy, mild intellectual disability and epilepsy.   The father had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder.  The child was in the primary care of the mother.  The...

Four boys aged 14, 12, 11 and 7 years had lived with the father for two years following separation.  The youngest child had moved to live with the mother for eight months while the three older children continued to...

Three children were involved aged 17, 14 and 11 years.  The children had lived with the mother and spent time with the father.  Communication between the parents was poor to the extent the mother did not...

A child aged 3 years lived with the mother and spent time with the father.  The judge ordered that the time spent with the father increase in a graduated approach according to the child’s age as...

Parents separated when a child was aged 4 years.  The father acknowledged family violence including threats to kill both the mother and child.  A final order was made for the child to live with the mother...

  Concepts used in family law courts to describe personalities of parents who brought a dispute to Court were studied, based on a sample of cases summarised in Complexfamilies. Concepts to Describe Personality The DSM-5 international system for classifying...

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 judge accepted an application for a subpoena sought by the father to inspect medical and treatment records held by a State Government regarding the mental health of the mother....Read More

The case involved a dispute between parents and maternal grandparents of children aged 9 and 7 years.  Contact between the children and grandparents ended following a dispute.  Five years later the grandparents applied to spend time...

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...

A couple separated and had a son aged 7 years at the time of the hearing.  The mother re-partnered. The child lived with the mother and spent time with the father.  The father requested sole parental...

A couple cohabited for about ten years before separating, had two daughters aged 11 and 9 years at the time of the hearing, and had engaged in legal proceedings for 5 years after separation.  The father...

The parents separated after 3 years of living together and had a daughter aged 6 years who had been living with her mother. When the child was aged 20 months the mother reported that the daughter...

The case involved separated parents with three children: LD aged 5yr 9mo, WDW aged 2yr 9mon and KD aged 1yr 6months.  The parents separated and lived for a period in different states, with the father visiting...

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 case involved a couple who were together in a happy relationship for 18 years, with a daughter born two years into the marriage.   The wife subsequently became pregnant with twins, with one twin dying in...

Both parents requested reviews of an interim order.  A child aged 4.5 years had lived with his father for four years after the mother left the family.  A judicial officer issued an interim order for the...

The father of a child aged 2 years sought an access plan involving a graduated approach where the time the child spent with him increased progressively. At the trial both the father and ICL agreed to...

A couple separated one year after having a daughter and then engaged in constant litigation and had been a high conflict couple for 4 years.  The mother alleged she had been subjected to family violence in the...

The case involved an appeal against the procedure followed by a judge. The couple had a daughter who was aged about one year when the case was heard, who lived with the mother.   The couple had...

A couple had three children aged 7, 6 and 5 years at the time of the rulings.  The parents separated after 5 years of being together, and had been in dispute for at least 3 years. ...

A couple had 4 children, KB aged 7 years, TG aged 3 years and twins WB and JB aged 9 months.  The mother had two older children who were on child protection orders and who lived...

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...