NSW Supervised Access Due to ADVO?

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Newdad

Well-Known Member
16 December 2018
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Hey all,

I am the applicant in a child access case in the Federal Circuit Court of NSW.

I am currently seeing my baby son under supervised visits due to concerns about my alcohol and marijuana use.

I am a primary school teacher who continues to work unsupervised with young children as their classroom teacher with the NSW DEC.

I have stopped drinking excessively and have done CDT tests to show I'm no longer drinking to excess.

I have stopped using marijuana and have completed urine drug screen tests to show my levels are dropping and should be clean by next court hearing.

I now fear that the judge will say that we should continue supervised visits due to the AVO that 'protects' my ex-partner from me or the false child abuse allegations she has told family consultant about.

I already have subpoenaed police and FACS to get their records that show this abuse was unsubstantiated and that the mother made conflicting statements and still allowed me to spend unsupervised time with the child I supposedly abused. The mother has now told the family consultant that she fears I abused her daughter and this is why she doesn't want me around her daughter and the family consultant has now recommended that supervised visits continue until the safety risks surrounding myself have been further investigated.

The mother states in her AVDO statement that I was never physically violent but she would get scared when we argued. I accepted this ADVO without admissions.

I'm hoping the judge will see right through her lies about child abuse.

I fear the AVO may mean I continue to be deemed a risk and need to continue to be supervised with my son after our upcoming hearing (2nd hearing)

I can't understand how the NSW state government run Dept. of ED. can assess me as being safe to work with 25 children, unsupervised, that I am not related to but then the F.C.C is asking that I be supervised when I am with my own son. I have already offered to have my mother supervise if the mother claims I'm a risk. The mother says her main fear is me being a risk due to my alcohol use followed by marijuana use.

Does anybody know of men who have ADVO's against them that are still allowed to see their children unsupervised? (children are not included on the ADVO)

Thank you
 

Tremaine

Well-Known Member
5 February 2019
183
31
514
Can men with ADVOs still see their kids unsupervised? Well, each case is different and nobody can predict what the Court will do, but the short answer is yes, an ADVO is not always grounds for continuing supervised time with a child (particularly if the child isn't a named party on the ADVO).

So, yes, it's possible that unsupervised time will be facilitated at the next hearing. It's also possible that it won't be. All you can do is pitch your case and hope it's persuasive.

What would I do?

File an application in a case to change the current interim orders to facilitate unsupervised time with the child, concurrent with alternative orders that supervised time continue with the paternal grandmother as the supervising party. If the current supervising party (presumably a contact service?) has nothing but positive things to say about your time with the child so far, ask them to write a report for you and annexe it to your affidavit.

Some things to note:
- A person being permitted to work with other people's kids, doesn't necessarily mean they don't abuse their own. I'm not saying you do, I'm just saying that there's not much point asking the Court to assume that being an educator excludes a person from also being abusive toward their kids.

- There isn't a story a parent can tell that the judges of the FCCA haven't heard before, including false or exaggerated allegations of abuse. They're pretty cluey and in most (not all, but certainly most) cases, you can trust the judge isn't going to just accept a person's word as gospel.

- An allegation without any further corroboration (e.g. a police report, investigation, charge, conviction, etc.) amounts to little more than he-said-she-said evidence, which isn't terribly persuasive.

- The longer a case runs, the more opportunity there is for you to give the Court no cause for concern that the child should have as much time as possible to enjoy a meaningful relationship with you. Similarly, the longer a case runs, the more time there is for the other party's allegations to be discredited.

You can't predict what the Court will do, all you can do is be on your best behaviour, do what they ask you to do, and keep working to rectify whatever extant concerns might be working against you.
 

Newdad

Well-Known Member
16 December 2018
17
0
71
Thanks Tremaine,

If my initiating application asked that my son and I receive unsupervised visits in the interim but judge ordered supervised visits do I still need to lodge an Application in a case and asked that our visits be changed to unsupervised or is it enough to just tell the judge I am still seeking unsupervised visits at the next hearing?

I looked at FCC website and they said no need if it was already asked for in the original application?

Also, how do I go about lodging application that I will be supervised by my mother concurrently with the application that our visits be unsupervised? Sorry this is all new to me and I've just had a look online and not finding anything yet
 

sammy01

Well-Known Member
27 September 2015
5,152
720
2,894
How old is the kid?

Old mate, I'm a teacher, been through it all AVO's. The youngest fella was 6 months old when we split.
Calm down...
Stay that way...

The biggest deciding factor is going to be the age of the kid. The next is how difficult the ex wants to make this...

Now- a little bit of sunshine... From the time the youngest was 2 he was with me 5 nights a fortnight. By the time he was 4 he was living with me 80% of the time... I had a very very good result. Not gonna lie. A very very good result. But it is worth hearing.
 

Newdad

Well-Known Member
16 December 2018
17
0
71
how old is the kid?

Old mate, I'm a teacher, been through it all AVO's. The youngest fella was 6 months old when we split.
Calm down....
Stay that way...

The biggest deciding factor is going to be the age of the kid. The next is how difficult the ex wants to make this...

Now- a little bit of sunshine.... From the time the youngest was 2 he was with me 5 nights a fortnight. By the time he was 4 he was living with me 80% of the time.... I had a very very good result. Not gonna lie. A very very good result. But it is worth you hearing.
Thank you, Sammy,

I have seen you on here a bit and remembered you're a teacher and had a good result. I appreciate you commenting and it's nice to see you on here helping out others even after your case is done!

My boys 13 months old. I've been seeing him once a week supervised for around 9 months now, except for visits the mother has missed or when she cut our visits back to once a fortnight after she decided it was too much hassle for her, after first court hearing I got back to weekly visits but 2 hours a week is pretty terrible. I believe she will continue to shoot herself in the foot by telling lies in her affidavits which I can prove to be misleading to keep my son from his dad and she wont budge on anything.

She will make it as difficult as she can.

I understand it's not the best that he's young and needs his mum. etc. but she works long hours and I can't just give up on my son and wait till he's 4 or 5 to initiate court proceedings (not that I think that's what your suggesting).
 

sammy01

Well-Known Member
27 September 2015
5,152
720
2,894
Nope, not suggesting that at all. But I want you to realise the age of the child is gonna be the biggest hurdle.

Trust me...

Cheers