The child is the fourth to be removed from the mother who today took her desperate fight for access to her child to the Supreme Court.
The baby was taken into emergency care three days after its birth last month and placed with a maternal aunt.
In that time the mother lived with the child but a children’s court ordered the baby be placed in the custody of a third carer.
Under the order the mother can now only see the child between 10am and 4pm.
The case is due back before the children’s court on Monday, but the baby’s parents today asked the Supreme Court to overturn the decision.
They hoped the baby could be placed in their care for the weekend, including Mother’s Day on Sunday.
Lawyers for the baby’s parents raised concerns about the unstable start to the child’s life, saying the baby should be with its parents.
“Three carers in 10 days does not bode well,” the lawyer for the baby’s mum said.
A lawyer for the child’s father said he was able and willing to care for the child and had hoped for the baby’s mother to move in with him.
The couple have been together for 12 months, and at the time of the baby’s birth the mother was living in motels and at friends houses.
It is understood she had no pram, cot, car capsule or other baby related items.
The Department of Human Services successfully had the baby removed from the mother because of her “chaotic lifestyle” and history of substance abuse.
She also has a significant criminal record.
Authorities say it is unclear who the child’s father is, but the man purporting to be so is a known wife-beater with convictions for domestic violence offences.
Supreme Court judge Justice Andrew Keogh dismissed the application.
He said the matter could be more fully explored when it returns to the children’s court on Monday.
heraldsun.com.au 6 May 2016
The Australian Government disassembling families, one breastfeeding mum after another?
Why stop at the Aboriginal community?
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