The welfare of children is the most important consideration in processing applications to the Family Court to move children who are the subject of custody arrangements out of Christchurch, the principal Family Court judge says.
A Christchurch family who fled to Dunedin after the February earthquake has told the Otago Daily Times they are terrified about returning to Christchurch to wait for court proceedings on custody arrangements, and have questioned whether making them do so is fair.
The stepfather of a 14-year-old girl said his wife, who had full custody of his stepdaughter, had an access arrangement with the girl's father for nine years.
But last week the court ordered the girl back to Christchurch after it, without them being present, made the arrangement legally binding when the girl's father challenged a temporary alternative access arrangement the family suggested for the six months they intended to stay in Dunedin with relatives.
The family's Christchurch home was destroyed in the quake and his wife and stepdaughter were terrified of going back, the man said.
The girl had started to settle down after the quake, was already temporarily enrolled at a Dunedin school and he had started work. They would have preferred the hearing to have been held in Dunedin, and wondered why it could not be.
His wife and stepdaughter were now in Christchurch, staying with friends while they wait another three weeks for their hearing.
"We've effectively been split up," he said.
"While they're stuck in Christchurch waiting for that to happen, I'm in Dunedin making money so we can live."
Family Court principal Judge Peter Boshier said neither he nor any judge could comment on a specific case. The single most important consideration in any judge's decision-making was the welfare of the child, he said.
Judges were generally cautious about hearing applications in courts away from the place where the other parent and the child had recently been residing, he said.
There were some occasions where it was felt hearing the application in another town was appropriate, and even some where a judge considered it expedient to do so, including situations involving family violence.
He noted the views of the left-behind parent also had to be taken into account in considering hearings locations.
It was a difficult time in Christchurch at the moment, with the courthouse cordoned off and no access to files inside it, he said.
Any existing Family Court cases could not be heard until the files were accessed, but new applications for non-violence orders and seeking permission to relocate were being heard in a temporary court at Wigram.
If a parent of a Christchurch child in a custody arrangement wished to relocate, and that was opposed, the hearing would most likely be at Wigram, he said.
Justice Ministry officials last week said 86 applications, about 95% of which were urgent, had been filed and dealt with by the Family Court since the earthquake. Between five and 10 new applications were being received a day.
Whatever the situation, all factors relating to the child's welfare, including safety and availability of housing, would be taken into account when making parental care decisions, Judge Boshier said.
The stepfather said he understood the logistical difficulties Christchurch courts faced after the earthquake, but it felt like the child's welfare had not been put first in their case.
They had a house to live in in Dunedin, a support network of extended family around them, his stepdaughter could go to school, was happy there and he had work to support the family.
He understood what had happened in Christchurch was extraordinary and there were no precedents, but felt the family could have at least been allowed to stay together in Dunedin until the court date came up.
