Daldron and Daldron

The Family Court of Australia considered an application by Ms Daldron ("the mother") to discharge interim parenting orders and reinstate final orders made on 30 June 2011, which provided for a week-about living arrangement for the parties' three children. The mother sought that the children live with her and only spend day periods with Mr Daldron ("the father"). The father sought the dismissal of the mother's application, effectively seeking the reinstatement of the week-about arrangement.

The central legal issues before the court were whether the existing interim parenting orders should be discharged and the previous final orders reinstated, and whether there was sufficient evidence of abuse or risk of abuse to warrant a departure from the final orders. The court was required to consider allegations of sexualised behaviour by one of the children, T, at school, and the mother's concerns that this behaviour indicated potential sexual abuse by the father. The court also had to assess other allegations made by both parties regarding mental health, alcoholism, violence, and mistreatment of the children.

Justice Stevenson reasoned that the mother's allegations of abuse, particularly concerning T's behaviour at school, were unsubstantiated by credible evidence. Despite the mother's concerns and a report from the Department of Human Services, no evidence was presented to demonstrate that T had complained of sexual abuse by the father, nor did school records corroborate the alleged incident. The court found that the mother's attempts to elicit such information from T were suggestive. Given the lack of substantiated risk of harm and the fact that the parties had previously consented to final orders for a week-about arrangement, the court concluded that these arrangements should be reinstated pending a final hearing.

Consequently, the court discharged all interim parenting orders made since 30 June 2011 and directed that the proceedings be listed for determination on a Rice & Asplund issue. Leave was granted for parties to inspect documents produced by NSW Police and W Public School, and the Magellan report was ordered to be released to the parties.