The applicant brought a motion seeking an interim variation of a prior custody and access order following an incident where the respondent became severely intoxicated while caring for the parties’ young children, leaving them unsupervised and causing police involvement.
The court found that the seriousness of the incident constituted a material change in circumstances affecting the best interests of the children under s. 29 of the Children’s Law Reform Act.
While rejecting the applicant’s request to restrict the respondent to day-only supervised access by a professional supervisor, the court ordered a temporary variation requiring supervised access with the respondent’s parents and continued alcohol monitoring through a SCRAM bracelet.
The court imposed a regime allowing limited overnight access and ordered that any monitored alcohol consumption would immediately suspend access.
The order was subject to review after six months.
