WORTHAM & WORTHAM

This matter concerned an application before Berman J regarding the living arrangements and time spent between two children, Y and Z, and their parents. The father sought orders for the children to live with him and for any time the mother spent with the children to be supervised, asserting the mother presented an unacceptable risk. The mother sought equal time with the children, despite a three-year period of no physical contact. The children had expressed a strong desire to see their mother, and a family consultant supported a resumption of contact.

The court was required to determine the appropriate parenting orders for the children, specifically addressing the level of contact the mother should have with them, given the significant period of no physical contact and the father's concerns about risk. The court also had to consider the children's expressed wishes and the recommendations of the family consultant in formulating orders that would be in the children's best interests.

Berman J made orders that the father have sole responsibility for the children, with a requirement to consult the mother on long-term care, welfare, and development, particularly regarding education and serious medical decisions. For an initial period of three months, the children were to spend time with the mother under supervision at a designated contact centre, with the mother responsible for the associated fees. The orders then progressively increased the mother's time with the children, moving from supervised contact to unsupervised time, with detailed arrangements for changeovers, communication, and holiday periods. The court also made orders regarding the exchange of information, the children's schooling and activities, and mutual restraints against denigration and passing messages through the children. An injunction was also granted restraining the maternal grandmother from contact with the children until a specified date.