Director-General, Communities Services Directorate & Alexander (No. 2)

This matter came before Gill J in the Family Court of Australia, concerning parenting orders for a child, X, who was in foster care. The applicant was the Director-General of the Community Services Directorate, and the respondents were Ms Alexander (the mother), Mr Mills (the father), and Ms Cary (the Independent Children's Lawyer). The core of the dispute involved the parents seeking shared parental responsibility for X, despite the child being in foster care.

The court was required to determine the appropriate parenting arrangements for X, specifically addressing the extent to which shared parental responsibility could be implemented given X's placement in foster care. This involved considering the child's welfare and development, the parents' capacity to engage in co-parenting, and the role of the foster carer and therapeutic interventions in facilitating any future time X might spend with her father.

Gill J made orders by consent, establishing a framework for X to spend time with her mother and for family therapy to be facilitated to support X's relationship with her father. The orders detailed the engagement of a family therapist, a therapist for the father, and a therapist for the child, with provisions for these professionals to consult and make recommendations regarding X's time with her father. The Director-General, Ms Alexander, and Mr Mills were ordered to equally share parental responsibility for X, and the Director-General was directed to advise the mother of decisions made regarding X's long-term care. The proceedings before the ACT Children's Court were to be discontinued.