Arthur Brown

The children's aid society sought a finding that two young children were in need of protection and a dispositional order placing them with their father subject to supervision.

The mother had been hospitalized under the Mental Health Act after a crisis and subsequently refused treatment for her diagnosed mental health issues.

The court found the children were in need of protection due to the mother's untreated mental illness and lack of insight.

The court placed the children in the care and custody of the father, subject to a nine-month supervision order to ensure the children's special needs were met and to facilitate the mother's access.

The applicant mother sought sole custody and retroactive child support, while the respondent father sought joint custody and child support based on a declared income of $12,000.

The court granted the mother sole custody, finding joint custody inappropriate given the parties' inability to communicate and differing values.

The court also found that the father was intentionally under-employed but declined to impute income on that basis; however, the court ruled that the father's non-taxable OSAP student grants constituted Guideline income and grossed them up.

Retroactive child support was ordered back to the date of effective notice, as the father's failure to pay any support since separation constituted blameworthy conduct.