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Family Law Court orders for supervised contact in custodial disputes – unanswered questions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 December 2019

Emily Schindeler Open the ORCID record for Emily Schindeler [Opens in a new window]
Emily Schindeler*
Affiliation:
Griffith Criminology Institute, Griffith University, Mt Gravatt, Queensland 4122, Australia
*
Author for correspondence: Emily Schindeler, Email: e.schindeler@griffith.edu.au
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Abstract

The focus of this study was on the application of orders for supervised access made by the Australian Family Law Court in cases that involved conflicting claims by custodial and noncustodial parents. Based on accessible Court transcripts for the 28-month period ending in early 2019, 103 cases involving 172 children were identified in which orders required supervision for visitation and/or changeovers. The patterns found through thematic analysis suggest that there is a shift to increasing use of final orders involving supervision through child contact centers as either an indeterminate or permanent arrangement. This shift has significant implications for current models of supervised access/changeover, and a greater understanding in terms of the outcomes being achieved is required.

Keywords

child contact centersupervision ordersFamily Law Courtcustodial disputes
Type
Articles
Information
Children Australia , Volume 44 , Issue 4 , December 2019 , pp. 194 - 201
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2019 

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References

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Australian Family Law Court Cases

Atkinson & Atkinson [2017] FamCa 274 Google Scholar
Betros & Betros [2016] Fa,CA 225 Google Scholar
Goldman & Goldman (NO.2) [2017] FamCA 531 Google Scholar
Jamal & Akbar [2017] FamCA 586 Google Scholar
Mayer & Mayer (NO.2) [2018] FamCA 910 Google Scholar
Merritt & Merritt [2018] FamCA 1107 Google Scholar
Morton & Macky [2018] FamCA2 Google Scholar
Nardini & Nardini [2019] FamCA 37 Google Scholar
Newport & Newport [2018] FamCA 472 Google Scholar
Prentice & Wilfred [2017] FamCA 290 Google Scholar