HARRIS & COATES

In the Family Court of Australia, Mr Harris (the father) and Ms Coates (the mother) were parties to proceedings concerning their children. The mother sought interim orders to restrict the father's time with the children to supervised visits only, while the father sought unsupervised visits and an increase in the time he spent with the children. The court was required to determine the interim arrangements for the children's time with each parent, considering the paramount consideration of the children's best interests, which includes ensuring a meaningful relationship with both parents and protecting them from abuse.

Justice Dawe considered the affidavits of both parties and the Independent Children's Lawyer, as well as a letter from the Children's Protection Service. The court noted significant concerns regarding the children's awareness of and involvement in the ongoing litigation, which was causing them emotional harm. While acknowledging allegations of parental behaviour impacting the children's well-being and a recent incident involving a child's injury during a fight, the court found that the evidence before it was insufficient to definitively determine the cause of the children's difficulties or to justify suspending the father's unsupervised time. The court also noted that supervised contact at a centre does not offer the same opportunity for a meaningful relationship as unsupervised time.

Ultimately, the court made no orders for supervision and no orders for an increase in the father's time. The existing interim orders from 11 September 2013, which provided for the father to spend time with the children each alternate Saturday from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm, were continued. The father's time was to be reinstated from Saturday, 8 February 2014, with the possibility of varying the handover location by written agreement. The father's contravention application was dismissed, and both parties' applications in a case were dismissed. The matter was listed for trial commencing 5 May 2014.