SPANOS & HALLETT (ADDENDUM)

This matter concerned parenting orders for the child, N Spanos, born in 2012, between the mother and the father. The court, presided over by Tree J, was required to determine the future parenting arrangements for the child, including issues of parental responsibility, living arrangements, time spent with each parent, and specific orders relating to the parents' conduct and treatment.

The court was tasked with determining the appropriate parenting orders, considering the parents' substance abuse issues, mental health, and the need to protect the child's welfare. Key legal issues included establishing sole parental responsibility, defining the child's living arrangements, detailing the father's time with the child, and imposing specific therapeutic and behavioural requirements on both parents. The court also had to consider restraints on the parents' conduct in relation to the child and each other, and the supervision of compliance with the orders.

Tree J discharged all previous parenting orders and made new orders granting the mother sole parental responsibility for the child, with the child to live with her. The father was granted specific, phased-in time with the child, with detailed provisions for weekends, weekdays, and school holidays, including special days. Crucially, both parents were directed to attend alcohol and drug services for treatment and counselling, and to engage meaningfully with these services, with progress reports to be provided to the Independent Children's Lawyer. The mother was also directed to engage with a mental health professional regarding her substance abuse, enmeshment with the father, and issues of domestic violence, while the father was directed to engage with a mental health professional concerning his substance abuse, trust issues, and entrenched beliefs about sexually transmitted diseases. The court also imposed restraints on the parents, including a blood alcohol limit while the child is in their care, restrictions on the father taking the child for medical treatment without the mother's consent, and prohibitions on discussing the proceedings with the child or denigrating the other parent. Compliance with these orders was to be supervised by a family consultant until 30 June 2016, and the orders could only be varied by a subsequent court order until that date.