A motion by the father for unsupervised access to his two young sons on a gradually increasing schedule was opposed by the Children's Aid Society, which sought to reduce his current supervised bi-weekly access to once every two months.
The court considered the father's significant mental health history, including schizophrenia and substance abuse issues, his recent stabilization following an absolute discharge from the Ontario Review Board in December 2014, and the quality of his interactions with the children during supervised visits.
The court found that while maintaining contact with the father and paternal family was in the children's best interests, the father had not demonstrated the ability to meet the children's needs without supervision and had not shown meaningful improvement in parenting skills over 22 months of supervised access.
