My brother's ex partner and mother of their children plans on leaving South Australia to live in Victoria within the next few weeks and she'll be taking 4 of her 8 children with her. The remaining 4 will be staying with their fathers, who are not my brother.
She is wanting to move for a "fresh start." However she won't be moving to a place that has a strong family support unit for her as most of her family members live in South Australia. She's not moving to a place with better employment opportunities either as she's planning on moving to a rural area. So all I'm seeing is this being a vindictive move to alienate my brother from their children.
My brother isn't going to win father of the year any time soon. He's lazy and a recovering addict and has a violent criminal history. But he loves his children and he can't father them from a different state. Surely he still has rights?
I've already told him to contact legal aid as soon as he can. I understand they will give him a clearer picture of what to expect but I would really appreciate other people's experiences with interstate moves so we can get a more full understanding of what can happen.
3 Replies
Stop seeing it as a vindictive move. Think about it. Not everything is a get back. People do genuinely want to run away from there violent, lazy exes, who are recovering addicts.
That being said, yes he does have rights. He can apply to the courts for recovery orders. He needs to decide though if that's in the best interest of the children and if a court fight is genuinely worth it. Is he genuinely being an active engaged and positive influence in there lives, or has he been disinterested and making the kids lives difficult. It's important as the children's Aunt you put the children's lives first.
Honestly it doesn't sound like the mother is a vindictive mother who takes her children from fathers for no good reason. I mean she is leaving the other children with there dads. It sounds like she and the kids have had enough and genuinely need a fresh start to me.
Yeah maybe it is to get away from him maybe that is the fresh start remember you dot know everything. I guess being single with four kids she has to take what she can get too. He can father from any state and he needs to move his butt to start fighting to stop them leaving if thats what he intends to do.
Wow, so all 4 shes taking are your brothers? If it were me I would stop her. She will just be causing disruption to their lives if shes moving for nothing. Shes splitting them up from their siblings and father/s. If your bro gets court orders for the kids to stay maybe it will be an incentive for him to step up his parenting game.