parenting capacity

The father applied to admit affidavits from four witnesses about the father’s parenting capacity. The judge ruled that the evidence offered by each person could be given by the father himself and did not require expert opinion.  The...

An assessment by a family consultant raised serious questions about the parenting capacity of both parents of children aged 6 and 7 years.  The consultant recommended that the child protection department be invited to intervene if concerns were...

The mother was estimated to have a mild-moderate intellectual disability, and received a disability pension.  The judge found that the mother did not have the parenting capacity to care for the child without assistance that was provided by...

The case involved children who were at different developmental stages, being aged nearly 4 years and 9 years.  Little difference was found in the parenting capacity of each of the parents. The family consultant opined that the fact that one...

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...

A mother stated that her continuing ability to parent a 5 year old child would be affected if the father spent unsupervised time with the child.  The mother alleged both physical and sexual abuse by the...

A mother appealed an order saying that a family report prepared by a family consultant had not addressed all of the concerns raised by the mother.  The judge had suggested that some allegations raised by the mother...

After separating the mother of children aged 4 years and 7 months lived 32 kilometres from the father who saw his children every fortnight.  The father re-partnered and the mother had difficulty adjusting to his new...

A maternal grandmother applied that children aged 3 and 5 years live with her and that she share in parental responsibility along with the parents (grandparent).  The grandmother had been significantly involved with both children since...

The father was diagnosed with Aspergers Syndrome and evidence was given that this affected the father’s interactions with his children aged 11 and 9 years (autism spectrum disorder). The judge found that the father lacked the...

A mother applied to review orders that had been made two years earlier when the child was 2 years old.   The mother claimed changed circumstances as the child was now diagnosed with developmental delay that had not been foreseen...

The case involved a child aged 13 years.  The parents were unable to communicate due to a history of family violence, and both parents had a history of significant alcohol abuse that impaired their parenting capacity....

  A child was aged 5 years at the time of the hearing.  When the child was aged 2 years the mother babysat both the child and another child.  When the parent  of the other child...

  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 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...

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...

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,...

Both parents migrated from Africa and separated after having a child aged 5 years.  Existing orders were that the child live with the mother and spend time with the father.  The father withheld the child after...

The mother began an intimate relationship with her first partner when aged 16 years producing her first child (young parent).  When the relationship ended both parents were teenagers and both returned to live with their own...

The case involved a father who admitted using pornography but denied any suggestion of using child pornography.   The father had been acquitted of a charge of sexual misconduct involving his niece.  An allegation had been made...

A child aged 5 years displayed disturbed and defiant behaviours that both parents found difficult to manage (child’s behaviour).  The parents had parenting styles that differed (parenting styles differ) and held different views about the cause of...

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. ...

Evidence was presented that the mother of a 9 year old boy had a long standing schizoaffective disorder following a post-partum psychosis, where the condition was managed by medication provided by a multi-disciplinary team, and that...

Australia has two courts that rule on family law matters.   Federal Circuit Courts rule primarily on matters when parents separate and dispute time spent (custody and access) with their children, or when parents dispute the right...

A family consultant provided a report when a mother applied to relocate with a child aged 7 years.  The mother submitted information from an assessing psychologist who had provided counselling therapy, where this information was provided in...

The case involved a 4 year old girl whose parents had separated in the year of her birth, and who lived with the mother.   Several significant disputes between the parents were discussed in court.  The father...

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...