Northey and Claughton

This matter concerned parenting orders for a child, X, born in 2001, between the mother and father. The court, presided over by Judge Burchardt, was tasked with determining the arrangements for the child's care and contact with both parents, as well as addressing underlying issues impacting their relationship.

The central legal issues before the court were the appropriate orders for parental responsibility, the child's living arrangements, and the nature and extent of time the child would spend with the father. The court also needed to consider measures to facilitate the repair of the child's relationship with the father, address parental anxieties and distress, and ensure the child's personal therapeutic needs were met. Furthermore, the court was required to make orders regarding communication between various professionals involved in the case and the parents, as well as to prevent denigration of either parent in the child's presence.

The court's reasoning focused on establishing a framework for supervised contact between the child and the father, with the ultimate aim of progressing to unsupervised time. This was to be facilitated through the services of Fairground Children’s Contact Service and therapeutic counselling with Ms L, with the goal of repairing the child's relationship with the father. The court also ordered both parents to attend counselling to address their respective issues, and for the child to receive personal counselling. The court further ordered the preparation of a supplementary family report to assist in future determinations. The orders discharged previous parenting arrangements and established equal shared parental responsibility, with the child to live with the mother, while implementing a structured approach to supervised time with the father.