Hello all,

I'm sure i have one of those "same old" stories, I'm just chasing a little advice or a nudge in the right direction. Briefly, I've lived apart from my son for the last 8 or so years and had good, regular contact, until his mother decided to move a very long way away. Now the "relationship" between myself and her is worse than ever, holiday contact is threatened, phone contact is limited, I don't even know his street address. There are other factors involved, but essentially, I want to remove all interaction between myself and her and solidify contact with the boy.

So some questions if i may, apologies if they've been asked recently, please point me to the posts if you can:

1. Are there any intermediary agencies or services that will initiate phone contact between my son and I (and other family members on my side), much like one of those "drop off/pick up" type places? Would such a place, if it exists, act as a go between to coordinate plane travel etc?

2. Can anyone please give me a brief run down on how to go about setting up court orders for regular contact. I haven't had to do this before & have no idea of the cost or processes involved. I'm in Queensland if that helps.

Any advice much appreciated.

Many thanks.

Welcome sumguy11,

There are services that operate as drop off points and contact points but they are limited to buildings and it is doubtful they would initiate transport and such.
Contact centers are usually used for restricted contact between parents and young children.

Laws have changed a little and now you must go through mediation, the mediation centers can use phone conferencing for long distances or you both attend together. they are used to try and prevent court action by trying to establish orders that both parties accept.

if this does not work then you lodge final orders at court and follow the system from there.

Things that can make a difference to contact are distance and age of the child, you've mentioned already distance so the age of the child can effect contact if he is old enough to state what he wants, this varies as everything does in family law court, I have heard children as you as 10-11 being allowed to decide.

As you can guess this is only very general information there are so many factors that can come into play it can spin your head.
Length of time that they have been moved, if you agreed to the moving and so the list goes on.

Hope this helps a little.