Commitment gets results

In a parenting matter which took PCLC Continuity Program lawyers over three years to resolve, final parenting orders were ultimately achieved for a vulnerable client seriously affected by persistent family violence.

Adriana and her husband were married for 11 years and had a 14 year old daughter. After separation, Adriana applied for an IVO against the father, alleging ongoing physical violence and verbal abuse in the presence of the child.

In late September 2019, the father initiated proceedings in the Federal Circuit Court (as it then was) after Adriana had obtained an FVIO against him, with the child named. In the family proceedings, the father sought orders for the child to live with him, even though Adriana had mostly been the child’s primary carer since separation.

Adriana instructed that the father was extremely coercive. The effects of persistent family violence and the father’s coercive control over the mother caused her to appear hyper-vigilant and overly protective of the child. In reporting, Adriana’s concerns about the child’s mental health while she was in the care of the father were characterized as possible attempts to alienate the child from the father.

The pandemic further complicated and delayed the progress of the matter, resulting in further distress to Adriana. The child’s therapist was not readily available, the father had insisted that the child spend time with him and his new family despite his daughters and wife having COVID and still testing positive, and an agreed upon Family Dispute Resolution Conference before the Final Hearing was delayed.

In a last attempt to resolve the matter prior to final hearing, the parties attended a litigation Family Dispute Resolution Service conference.At this conference, our lawyer successfully negotiated final consent orders on Adriana’s behalf, providing for the child to live with her with limited time to the father. Considering the polarised and entrenched positions of the parties, this was a remarkable result which has substantially allayed Adriana’s previous parenting and family violence concerns.