PRICE & ORMAN

In the Family Court of Australia, Cleary J considered competing applications concerning the time the children, X and Y, would spend with their father. The mother held significant concerns that the children had been sexually assaulted by the father, based on disclosures made by the children to her. While an investigation by JIRT did not substantiate these allegations, the court acknowledged the seriousness of such claims and the potential for emotional harm to the children arising from their mother's anxiety.

The court was required to determine the interim parenting arrangements for the children, balancing the mother's concerns about the father's alleged misconduct against the father's desire to spend time with his children. Key issues included assessing the risk of harm to the children, the impact of the parties' significant tension and lack of trust, and the need to act in the best interests of the children in circumstances where the evidence was largely untested. The court also considered the existing arrangement of supervised time with a service and the potential adverse effects of reducing this time.

Cleary J reasoned that while the allegations of sexual assault were serious, they had not been substantiated. The court found that ongoing weekly supervised time, in accordance with prior arrangements, would best balance the identified risks and ensure the maintenance of the children's relationship with their father. The court noted that a reduction in time would adversely affect the children.

Consequently, the parenting orders of 16 May 2018 were discharged. Pending further order, the children were to spend time with the father for up to three hours on two occasions per week, supervised by B Group or another agreed-upon supervisor. The mother was granted leave to provide certain documents to a psychologist or psychiatrist if she consulted one for therapeutic reasons related to her anxiety about the children's safety with their father. The father's application and the mother's response were otherwise dismissed.