MOTHER SEEKS SOLE PARENTAL RESPONSIBILITY ON AN INTERIM BASIS CONTENDING THAT THE CHILDREN ARE AT RISK OF HARM IN THE CARE OF THEIR SUICIDAL FATHER
Sedgley & Charton [2020] FCCA 3227 (26 October 2020)
This case involves the mother seeking sole parental responsibility on an interim basis contending that the children are at risk of harm in the father’s care due to his mental health functioning and suicidal ideation.
Facts:
X, aged eight years, and Y, aged two and a half years, are the children of the applicant mother, Ms Sedgley (“the mother”), and the respondent father, Mr Charton (“the father”).
The mother seeks that she hold sole parental responsibility for the children while the father seeks that they hold equal shared parental responsibility for the children.
It is the mother’s position that the father’s mental health functioning, including a history of suicidal ideation, places the children at risk of harm in his care. By reference to the report, she contends that the evidence adduced by the father is presently insufficient to establish that he is appropriately attending to his mental health. In the circumstances, she contends that the risk to the children, as has been identified not only in the evidence but in the report of Mr E, can be mitigated by time being supervised on an interim basis.
Whilst the father accepts he contends, historically, he has had some difficulties with his mental health, that history is informative but is not determinative. He contends that there have been no changes in any risk factors since May 2020 to warrant the mother’s decision to cease the children’s time with him. The father contends that the mother has conflated the risks between the dynamic of the adult relationship and risk to the children.
Issue: Should the mother have sole parntal responsibility over the children?
Law:
- Family Law Act 1975 4AB, 60CC, 65DA, 65L
Analysis:
The court considers that the emails that were sent on by the father to the mother contained an express and a veiled threat to the safety of the mother’s father. The court considers that those emails fall within the definition of family violence.
In addition to those matters, the court notes that on attendance with Dr L, the father is reported to have said that he becomes angry easily, and this can result in throwing or breaking things in the home.
To the extent that the mother has received messages indicative of the father intending to harm himself and blaming the mother for it, the court considers that those are matters which are likely to lead to her being frightened and/or threatened and that those messages that may have given rise to her feeling coerced into trying to placate or manage the father’s strong emotions so as not to trigger any adverse reaction in him.
The court is satisfied that it is necessary to protect the children from exposure to physical or psychological harm arising from exposure to abuse, neglect or family violence.
Conclusion: The mother shall have sole parental responsibility for the children and that the time spent by the children with the father shall be supervised.