Hi there. Deciding who will care for a child and/or how much each parent will see the child after a relationship breakdown can be complicated and fraught for both parents. The Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) governs the way in which parents decide on custody arrangements in Australia. Generally speaking, parents may come to any arrangement for the care of the child a that they see fit, so long as both parents are happy with the arrangement and consent to it, and the child is safe and healthy. Usually when parents come to an arrangement that suits them they will apply to the Family Court for approval. An order by the Court to this effect says that their arrangement is satisfactory, and from that point on it can be enforced by the Court.

Often parents fail to co-parent their children co-operatively and sometimes a parent who has custody of a child will prevent the non-custodial parent from visiting that child. Assuming that there has not been any instances of violence, abuse or any occurrence which might lead authorities to have a concern for the welfare of a child in one parent’s care, a parent may not withhold access to a child from the other parent.