QLD Family Court - Mother Lying About Residence of Child?

[JadeGoldCoast]

Hi all,

I was wondering what the family court's view would be (if any) on a child living permanently with his maternal grandmother when the mother is informing the family court the child is living with herself?

Since September 2018, the child has informed us, his teachers and his psychologist that he is not allowed to stay at his mother's and she lives with her partner. The family court orders are between the father and mother.

Thanks!

 

[Scruff]

Simple - if she has knowingly made false statements or given false information to a Court then she has comitted an offence. The courts take that very seriously.

 

[Rod]

... all except Family Law courts.

Note the rules around evidence change for contempt of court and perjury and the onus shifts to proving beyond a reasonable doubt the statements were deliberately false. A very high threshold to jump

There was a case a few years ago where someone failed to have their matter heard for contempt despite having 13 separate instances being complained about. Lost, appealed the decision, lost and had to pay costs.

Might be lucky and the lying is so blatant the Family court does something about it, else you refer the matter to the Commonwealth DPP as a crime. I have no idea whether they are resourced to follow up such matters.

 

[Tremaine]

I agree with Rod about the FamCA/FCCA being lenient with matters of contempt or perjury. They work under a less adversarial system and the best interests of the kids is paramount, so it’s not generally in the business of criminally punishing parents in those circumstances (though lots of parents would disagree!).

Has mum indicated to dad that the child is living with the maternal grandmother, or is this based just on what the child has said? Either way, I think the best course of action would be to include the information in an affidavit (and how that information was brought to your attention). Nobody can really say for sure how it will be viewed by the court, but it is something the court should know about.

 

[Jake Matherson]

Something I have come across recently. Might be of help to someone.

If the mother is representing herself in accordance with Family Law Rule 8.06 if your address for service changes during a case, you must file a Notice of Address for Service within 7 days after the change.

So if the Mother herself is on file living in the Grandmothers house but is in fact living at a different address say the boyfriends house she would be required to file a NOAS.

This might be a way to raise the question for you.

 

[JadeGoldCoast]

Hi all, thanks for your replies! We were thinking putting our concerns into an affidavit for the next court date would be the best option but wanted some advice first as we are self representing, mother has a lawyer.

This information is not coming from the mother - mother is pretending she is still living at her 3 bedroom home and that the child has his own room. Unfortunately her brother is living in the property so chances are her name is still on the lease.
The child has been informing us all that he actually sleeps on the floor at his grandmas in his uncles room (with 3 of his uncles). His psychologist is concerned (as are we) that the child is not being provided with a proper bed and that the child (that is diagnosed with autism) may not be receiving the attention he needs as the grandmother has 4 young children under 7 in her care and is about to give birth to her 7th child.

Just difficult because the mother will deny that the child is not living with herself and we are worried a court will not take what a child says seriously. We feel if the mother is not wanting to care for the child and have him living with herself then we should have the opportunity for him to live with us instead. Psychologist is going to write a letter for court asking for immediate 50/50 - we currently have 4 days a fortnight.

 

[Scruff]

So the mother is lying to the court about where the child lives; is lying to the court about where she lives; and the child doesn't even have a bed to sleep in. Pure logic would suggest that this has come about because it's the boyfriend that doesn't want anything to do with the poor child and that the mother cares more about her relationship with him than she does about the child's welfare.

Forget this 50/50 nonsense and do what is in the best interests of the child. Get Child Services involved and go for full custody.

No bed = child abuse. It might be a minor thing to some people, but it would be considered abuse all the same. Where there's smoke there's fire - so what else is the child going without that you don't even know about?

The only thing you really need to prove is that the child is not living with the mother. Child Services will be able to establish that very easily and I doubt that the Court will ignore what they have to say.

Reporting child abuse - Department of Child Safety, Youth and Women

 

[JadeGoldCoast]

I called DOCS last night to get some advice regarding our concerns and was advised we should buy the child a mattress for the grandmother's house. I explained that the mother was pretending the child was at her house so this wouldn't really work but she said there wasn't much they could do from a protection perspective.
We will definitely address our concerns in an affidavit and hopefully the child's psychologist will raise her concerns in her letter also.

 

[Scruff]

Hmm. May be all the complaints over the years about DOCS being to aggressive have had an effect. Did you tell DOCS the psychologist has concerns about the child? Because I'm surprised that they would ignore that.

 

[JadeGoldCoast]

Hi Scruff, yes I discussed the psychologists concerns. This isn't the first time i've contacted DOCS about concerns and they've told me to continue the issue with court. Basically as the child is still attending school and being clothed they don't think a bed is a big enough issue.