FATHER SEEKS THE REVIEW OF ORDERS REQUIRING SUPERVISED TIME WITH HIS CHILD
LEVY & MOLLISON
FAMILY COURT OF AUSTRALIA
[2020] FamCA 582
This case is an application to review the decision of the Senior Registrar when orders were made for the father’s time with his child to be supervised.
FACTS:
Mr. Levy (the father) filed an Application in a Case in which he seeks to vary the orders made on 22 November 2019 by dispensing with the requirement for supervision and allowing him to spend unsupervised time with X (the child).
Ms. Mollison (the mother) and the Independent Children’s Lawyer opposed the application. The mother alleged that the father is unable to contain his hostility towards her in his dealing with the child. The father sent offensive or threatening messages to the mother.
ISSUE:
Whether or not the Court should grant the father’s application for orders dispensing the requirement for supervision during his time with the child.
HELD:
The Court accepted that the supervision reports provided by M Services show a loving and appropriate relationship between the child and her father and that there is no instance reported of the father’s being disrespectful or critical of the mother. However, that is in circumstances where the father is well aware of the supervisor’s presence and reporting function and where there is no contact between the father and the mother.
Whether the father can continue to restrain himself in the absence of a supervisor and the presence of the mother is untested. The issue of the disputed allegations of family violence remains alive and cannot be resolved until there is a hearing where the competing evidence can be fully explored.
The Court held that it is not appropriate that the need for supervision be revisited until the father’s attitudes towards the mother can be explored in cross-examination. Hence, the Court dismissed the father’s application.