QLD Custody and Drug Use

[RaeSam]

Ok so chalk this up to my being very naive about the legal system but i was hoping someone could explain this to me...

I have a 4year old neice. My brother left his family nearly 2 years ago to have an affair and since then the parents are divorced. Now my brother is a drug user (started off with weed and has since upgraded to harder drugs like ice) he also has adhd (and since using drugs has also got bipolar disorder) and just recently he started running his own "escort" service...needless to say his lifestyle disgusts me greatly (i realise this is a personal and emotional opinion)

But still despite this unwholesome and immoral environment he is exposing my neice to he is still allowed unsupervised visitations and sleep overs. Apparently unless "something happens" the legal systen can't do anything about it.

Im just wondering why this is the case?
I mean im not saying he shouldn't be allowed to see his daughter or anything but was thinking just not be allowed to take her into his house where all this activity is going on or something to that effect. My niece is my world and at a very impressionable age - it really terrifies me the things shes being exposed to!

Has someone here gone through similar issues? (Im assuming this is more common then i realise - naive as i said about legal side of things) Any advice?

 

[AllForHer]

Because as it happens, a lot of drug users have kids without said kids ever coming to harm. We would have a very overloaded foster care system if the government went about taking kids off every parent who does drugs.

 

[RaeSam]

This is true. But if there is one parent who is able to care for the child and provide a safe environment why cant the legal system limit the exposure the other parent has?

 

[AllForHer]

Perhaps that parent should have chosen more carefully when picking the other parent of their child.

Legally, the child has a right to know, spend time and communicate with both parents on a regular basis, insofar as their best interests can be met, and regardless of the nature of the relationship between the parents.

Parents, on the other hand, have no rights. Only their children do.

 

[Rod]

There are already plenty of parents abusing the court system using their kids as a pawn to satisfy their own immature, nasty and vindictive nature without making it easier to remove a parent from the kid's life.

 

[RaeSam]

I can see why you would say this. However i feel the need to point out he was not always on drugs or in such an immoral lifestyle. He used to be quite decent and they were married for 4 years before they had a child and it was only after the child was born that he had the affair, fell in with the wrong crowd and started abusing drugs - hard to "choose" the right person when they suddenly decide to change so dramatically from the person they were originally... but i can appreciate where youre coming from.

Perhaps that parent should have chosen more carefully when picking the other parent of their child.

Legally, the child has a right to know, spend time and communicate with both parents on a regular basis, insofar as their best interests can be met, and regardless of the nature of the relationship between the parents.

Parents, on the other hand, have no rights. Only their children do.

 

[RaeSam]

This is sad but true and i know that must happen a lot more than i realise.

However id like to emphasise my point was not that he be "removed from the kids life" - by all accounts although his lifestyle is indecent he as a person is a decent enough dad (when hes stable) and i dont think any child should be deprived of seeing their parents if at all possible!

Im simply enquiring if theres any LEGAL options for him not taking her into his home where the drugs and other business is taking place - especially unsupervised or for sleep overs... im sure you can appreciate a parents desire for their child to be in a safe environment as much as possible.

There are already plenty of parents abusing the court system using their kids as a pawn to satisfy their own immature, nasty and vindictive nature without making it easier to remove a parent from the kid's life.

 

[MelMel]

Hello Rae,

I am with you as the last twelve years has and still is a battle with the father of three children involved in the most unfavourable lifestyle and industries abroard.