Dome & Thorpe

In the Family Court of Australia, Dawe J presided over proceedings concerning the children S and C. The dispute involved the mother seeking sole parental responsibility for the children, while the father failed to provide a required parenting questionnaire and did not attend the first day of trial, despite numerous attempts to contact him. The matter was therefore to proceed undefended.

The court was required to determine whether to grant the mother sole parental responsibility for the children, and whether any orders for the children to spend time with or communicate with the father were appropriate. This involved considering the factors outlined in section 60CC of the *Family Law Act 1975* (Cth), particularly in light of the father's circumstances and the need to protect the children from psychological harm.

Dawe J reasoned that the father's history of psychiatric illness, his current admission to a mental health facility, a domestic violence order against him, and his two-year absence from the children's lives weighed heavily against any orders for contact. The court found that it was necessary to protect the children from the risk of psychological harm. Consequently, the mother was granted sole parental responsibility, and the children were ordered to live with her. No orders were made for the children to spend time with or communicate with the father.