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Hooper v Barber [2017] NZFC 8158

Published 15 April 2019

Supervised contact — application to vary parenting order — drug use — methamphetamine — dishonesty to the court — falsification of documents — ability to care for child — Care of Children Act 2004. The applicant sought to vary a parenting order giving the respondent equal shared care over their child. The applicant sought reduction and supervision of the respondent's time with the child. The respondent had altered a document to show negative test results for use of methamphetamine. The Court found that there were six issues in relation to the mother's ability to care for the child: use of methamphetamine, the mother's credibility (as shown by her attempt to conceal the use of methamphetamine), continued use of the drug after assuring the Court that she was sober, non-disclosure of criminal charges, failure to disclose important and relevant information to the proposed supervisors of her day to day care of the child and lying about leaving the child unsupervised. The Court found that the contact between the respondent and her child should be supervised. Contact was to be supervised by the respondent's parents on the condition that anything of concern be reported by them to the lawyer for child. Contact between the mother and child was reduced to four days across fortnights. Therefore the application was granted and the parenting order was varied. Judgment Date: 9 October 2017. * * * Note: Names have been changed to comply with legal requirements * * *