Impact of DVO on Family Court

[nfindlay17]

Brief Summary:
- My partner and I relocated away from the children's father due to DV
- Interim parenting orders have supervised visitation with father at a contact centre (this was based on concerns with a temporary protection order) and that the children be permitted to live with us away from the father.
- ICL's psychologist report has been submitted whereby the father has talked his way out of concerns and the report is quite neutral/leaning in his favour
- There was a family court mention the day before the DV trial whereby it is going to a hearing - no date set at this time
- At the DV trial, the Judge found all the elements of my application to be true and fact. So the father has tried to fight the DVO and failed

What impact does this DVO have on the family court proceedings,?
Is the father likely to get unsupervised visitations in the future or stick with the current supervised ones? The psychologist's report recommends moving to unsupervised overnight visits within 12 months - but this was before the final DV trial and findings.
The psychologist also recommends reviewing our relocation (again before the DVO was finalised and the Judge determined facts). Is this still likely considering the DVO now?

 

[sammy01]

Ok so there was dv during the relationship. He has an avo on him? No breaches? No charges? No convictions?
Then the avo is of minimal significance

 

[nfindlay17]

Yes there was DV. Yes he has a DVO which went to trial and during which he admitted to some serious assaults. The permanent protection order has only been in place for a week or so. No breaches as yet. No charges or convictions as yet.
So having the DVO is unlikely to impact his attempts at unsupervised contact?

 

[Atticus]

So having the DVO is unlikely to impact his attempts at unsupervised contact?

The answer is below ( I have struck out your personal opinion & just left the facts)

ICL's psychologist report has been submitted.... whereby the father has talked his way out of concerns.... and the report is quite neutral/leaning in his favour
The psychologist's report recommends moving to unsupervised overnight visits within 12 months
The psychologist also recommends reviewing our relocation

The fact is the family court is there to uphold a childs right to a meaningful relationship with BOTH parents (consistent with their best interests) regardless of the relationship of the parents. The above indicates to me that the professionals do not hold the same view as yourself.

The other fact is that the DVO ( even in it's interim form) & the circumstances that lead to it being served, would have already been considered by the professionals, & the DVO now being made final gives it no extra weight or alters anything.

 

[nfindlay17]

The answer is below ( I have struck out your personal opinion & just left the facts)

The fact is the family court is there to uphold a childs right to a meaningful relationship with BOTH parents (consistent with their best interests) regardless of the relationship of the parents. The above indicates to me that the professionals do not hold the same view as yourself.

The other fact is that the DVO ( even in it's interim form) & the circumstances that lead to it being served, would have already been considered by the professionals, & the DVO now being made final gives it no extra weight or alters anything.

So you’re saying that even by the father admitting to DV against the children during the DV trial (previously denied as far as the family court was aware), this would have no impact on his application in the family court?

The psychologist report is only one piece of evidence that the ICL and Judge use to base their final decision. I have no doubt that the Judge will make a decision in the best interest of the children at the end.

We have no issue with a meaningful relationship with their other parent. We actually go above and beyond to attempt to facilitate that. We are only concerned that it is in a safe manner.

 

[sammy01]

So he admitted to dv against the children during the dv trial? Can you give a brief discription?

No breaches, but there must have been an interim avo before the trial? No breaches of it?

Would the avo have an impact on the family court. Sure. I said in my first response it would be minimal.... Again, depending on what he did. Screamed at the kids, did some stupid stuff while the marraige was on the rocks. Bad form. Hsopitalising the kids through violence. Different story.

The question I think you should be asking is whether or not your gonna be forced to relocate back to the original location because there is a contradiction in what you've written.... Happy for dad to have a meaningful relationship BUT you moved away, which would make that difficult.

 

[nfindlay17]

So he admitted to dv against the children during the dv trial? Can you give a brief discription?

No breaches, but there must have been an interim avo before the trial? No breaches of it?

Would the avo have an impact on the family court. Sure. I said in my first response it would be minimal.... Again, depending on what he did. Screamed at the kids, did some stupid stuff while the marraige was on the rocks. Bad form. Hsopitalising the kids through violence. Different story.

The question I think you should be asking is whether or not your gonna be forced to relocate back to the original location because there is a contradiction in what you've written.... Happy for dad to have a meaningful relationship BUT you moved away, which would make that difficult.

Excessive hitting, emotional abuse. Pretty much every form of abuse in the definition of domestic violence over the course of many years.

No breaches of the protection order as of yet.

The father was not interested in a meaningful relationship when we were in the same city, plus his prioritisation to his work would make it logistically difficult for him to care for them in a consistent manner.

We were forced to move to protect our family from an abusive, narcissistic man. Things would be very different if he put half as much energy into seeing the kids as to what he’s putting into harassing our solicitor about the case.

There is no date set down for the next family court, they have indicated the end of the year at the very earliest. The current parenting orders give supervised visitation - the judge read the psychologist report at the last mention and chose not to make any changes to the parenting orders based on her recommendations at that point.

 

[Atticus]

I think it would be fair to say that 80% + of parenting cases filed at court have a notice of risk indicating a risk included in the application. Many also have DVO's.....Some of those are of real concern, others not so much, & an increasing amount are frankly taken out on false, exaggerated, or misleading grounds by one parent in the hope that it will influence an outcome in the family court... The courts know this & has to try to sort the genuine cases of concern from the rest.... That's where the professionals such as the ICL , psychologists etc that the court has appointed comes in .... the court relies heavily on their findings, reports & recommendations.

At the moment, there are supervised visits ordered, albeit with a recommendation to move toward unsupervised in 12 months....(that would only happen if dad doesn't do anything in the interim to flag a problem)... The only level below supervised visits is a no contact order. Reserved for the most extreme cases of documented abuse & rarely given..

I think you need to realise that the court is there to uphold the right of the child to a meaningful relationship with both parents... no parent can establish that through supervised visits only, & at some point that will need to change..... I expect dad is paying all costs associated with supervised visits on top of all else, I doubt he would bother if he lacked commitment or a genuine desire to see his kids.

 

[nfindlay17]

I am well aware that the court has a responsibility and will make an order that it deems as in the best interests of the children. That is also our view.

We understand that at some point the visits will turn into unsupervised, hopefully at which stage there are enough safe guards to ensure the children’s protection.

We are currently in the process of drafting a parenting plan that shows stages of progression to unsupervised time in the attempts that it will be mitigated. The father has already submitted a consent order that agrees to us living away.

 

[sammy01]

ok so dad is doing supervised visits with a plan to move on unsupervised / overnight visits within 12 months. All seems pretty reasonable here. What is the problem?