I was served with papers by my abusive ex in Feb '08. He still hasn't got to see him and the court process is still ticking along. To start off with he wanted unsupervised weekend visits. He will in the end get 3 one hour supervised visits at a supervised contact center (if he continues with the court proceedings)
As some other people have commented on other threads, if you don't have a Day to Day Care order then he can take your baby and the police can't do jack sh*t. So the first thing you need to do is go to a family lawyer and get an order in place. The sooner the better, don't wait to counter it get it done asap. You should be entitled to legal aid, are you on the dpb?
I got this from the website about guardianship, as it sounds to me as if he doesn't have any.
Parents as guardians
Both parents are usually guardians
Usually, a child's mother and father are joint guardians of the child. They are often referred to as the child's natural guardians.
However, while a child's mother is automatically a guardian, the child's father is a guardian only if:
- he was married to or in a civil union with the child's mother at any time from when the child was conceived until it was born
- the child was conceived before 1 July 2005 and he was living with the child's mother when the child was born
- the child was conceived on or after 1 July 2005 and he was living with the child's mother at any time between conception and the birth, or
- on or after 1 July 2005 he and the mother jointly notified the birth and the father appears on the birth certificate. If the birth was not jointly notified but the father was added to the certificate between 1 July 2005 and 25 January 2009 the father is a guardian if:
- the mother requested the father be added at the time the birth was notified, and produced a notice signed by the father acknowledging paternity and consenting to being added; or
- if the father requested to be added after the birth was notified and the mother confirmed he was the father.
- the Family Court has appointed or declared the father a guardian.
It is a bit tricky, and best to get a lawyer. Almost always the father gets some sort of contact, even if only limited, like what E's bio Dad will get. If there are safety concerns at all then you can take it to mediation. In our case the court has requested a psychologist report which ended up being heavily in our favor. And the court as said that he needs to get counseling with a psychologist for his anger issues and I do to deal with the PTSD before contact can get go ahead.
Link to the care of children act and info about getting a day to day care order
Hope that helps, its hard to think off all the stuff I have learned over the past two years!
Edited by Emiloly
CUSTODY/ACCESS DEBACLE!
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). I really feel for you it is a long, hard and expensive road - I have a 13 year old and and been in and outta court for years with custody issues... It's great that you are documenting everything that has happened as that is so important!
i totally know how you feel, my son is my world and to think that at some stage I will probably be forced into letting him go with his father for visits unsupervised absolutely kills me.
September '11
