Children – parental capacity not always impacted where concerns held on child’s safety in other parent’s care – Proctor

In Keane [2021] FamCAFC 1 (18 January 2021) the Full Court (Alstergren CJ, McClelland DCJ & Benjamin J) dismissed an appeal from orders made for the care of a 4 year old, where Judge McEvoy found that the father had committed acts of domestic violence towards the mother.

Judge McEvoy ordered that the father spend supervised time with the child, which was to then increase to unsupervised time.

The mother appealed, arguing that the court had misapplied “the Re Andrews principle” (that the mother’s caregiving capacity would be discernibly impaired by an order that the child have time with the father).

The Full Court said (from [75]):

“ … [A]uthorities applying ‘the Re Andrews principle’ … [have] been…