JOHANSON & NIXON

This matter concerned parenting orders made by Judge Scarlett in the Federal Circuit Court of Australia. The dispute involved the Applicant Mother and the Respondent Father regarding the care arrangements for their child, X, born in 2011.

The court was required to determine the primary caregiver of the child, the living arrangements for the child, and the specific time the child would spend with each parent. Further issues included the supervision of the child's time with the Father, the conditions precedent to unsupervised time, and measures to prevent the child's removal from Australia. The court also addressed communication protocols between the parents regarding the child's welfare, including medical emergencies and significant health issues, and prohibitions against denigration of either parent.

Judge Scarlett discharged all earlier parenting orders and made new orders. The Applicant Mother was granted sole parental responsibility for major long-term issues concerning the child, and the child was ordered to live with the Mother. The Father's time with the child was to commence with supervised contact, gradually increasing in duration and decreasing in supervision requirements over several years, contingent on the Father's satisfactory completion of a behaviour change course for family violence. Specific periods were designated for the suspension of the child's time with the Father, including public holidays and the child's birthday. The court also implemented strict measures to prevent the child's removal from Australia, including placing the child on a Watch List until October 2017, and ordered that changeovers for contact occur at a supervised contact centre, with both parties responsible for associated fees. Finally, both parents were restrained from denigrating each other and were required to notify each other of any medical emergencies or significant health issues involving the child.