Separated when pregnant

[Alexandra87]

My ex partner broke up with me when I was 22 weeks pregnant. He is a recovering IV drug user and has an addiction to alcohol which led to a volatile environment for myself and our baby. After he broke up with me I moved home to NSW to be with my maternal family. I contacted him the day our baby was born and he flew to NSW to meet her. We agreed on a private agreement for child support. Since then I have tried to keep him updated with videos and photos of our daughter have told him of every milestone every doctors appointment ect. I recently had to contact him to inform him child support needed to assess him regardless of our private agreement and that it was just going through the motions so that I could receive the family tax benefit. Things escalated and he became abusive and threatened me so I ceased contact. He is now refusing to answer child supports enquires and has ceased paying anything privately. I want to know given my circumstances and the distance between us can I apply for sole responsibility of my daughter? I want to be able to take her overseas when I travel for work? And now that communication has broken down between us if there are any medical issues what happens ?

 

[sammy01]

dad would need an established history of child abuse to have parental responsibility taken away.

So my experience of raising kids with an absent parent has been that getting a passport every few years can be difficult. But everything else has been fine. So passports - keep in contact with him. Hopefully things will improve over time and it wont be a huge issue.
BTW how much does he have to pay? how much more was it than he was paying? IF you want in a few months you could go back to private collect if it isn't that big a deal, just to smooth things over.

 

[Alexandra87]

dad would need an established history of child abuse to have parental responsibility taken away.

So my experience of raising kids with an absent parent has been that getting a passport every few years can be difficult. But everything else has been fine. So passports - keep in contact with him. Hopefully things will improve over time and it wont be a huge issue.
BTW how much does he have to pay? how much more was it than he was paying? IF you want in a few months you could go back to private collect if it isn't that big a deal, just to smooth things over.

Thanks for your response. When you say difficult about the passports is it doable without having sole responsibility? I fear he will try to punish me by not consenting .. Would I need to go to court if he doesn’t agree?

He hasn’t answered child support so I don’t know how much I will receive just yet.

 

[sammy01]

use this site
Children and parental consent

but for the minute just relax - worry about hypotheticals that are a few years away from being a possible reality isn't a great idea

 

[Alexandra87]

use this site
Children and parental consent

but for the minute just relax - worry about hypotheticals that are a few years away from being a possible reality isn't a great idea

I wish it were hypothetical, I have a conference o/s in August. I can’t contact him so I guess I will be needing a lawyer. Thanks for your response.

 

[Atticus]

He hasn’t answered child support so I don’t know how much I will receive just yet.

If you know his income or have a reasonable idea, you can use the online estimator to see what the liability is likely to be >>> Child Support Estimator

You can apply for a special circumstances consideration from the passport office (see link provided by Sammy).... Long shot though as it's more for when the other parents is not contactable...

Other than that, you will have to apply to court for an order to allow the passport to be processed without his signature, & to allow the travel... If you have to go that far, & the court is satisfied that he has been unreasonably obstructive, it MAY grant you Sole Parental Responsibility for certain things such as renewal of passports, travel...

He's not doing himself any favours if he continues to flat out ignore you on the issue... Hopefully it's just a temporary knee jerk reaction to the CSA involvement, BUT, you don't have the luxury of time if you are needing an order in about 5 months..