WOODWORTH & ANSLEY

This matter concerned a parenting dispute between a mother and father regarding their child, [X]. The court was required to determine the best interests of the child in circumstances where both parents held strong, and in the court's view, incorrect, beliefs about the child's disclosures of alleged violence by the father. The mother fully accepted the child's statements, while the father believed them to be fabricated.

The central legal issue was how to best provide for the child's welfare and safety, given the parents' entrenched positions and lack of insight into the situation. The court needed to assess the credibility of the child's disclosures, the parents' respective behaviours, and the impact of their conflict on the child. The court was also required to consider the recommendations of the family report concerning the father's future time with the child.

Judge Burchardt found that while the child had made disclosures, these disclosures were not true. The court noted the ongoing anger of the father towards the mother and the mother's fear of the father, concluding that both parents lacked insight into the situation. Applying principles of family law focused on the child's best interests, the court ordered a gradual increase in the father's time with the child, as recommended by the family report, commencing with supervised contact and progressing to unsupervised time at the father's home. The mother was granted sole parental responsibility and the child was to live with her. The court also made orders regarding communication between the child and father, restrictions on the mother's relocation, and injunctions preventing the parents from discussing the proceedings with the child or making derogatory remarks about each other in the child's presence.