Allegations of substance abuse or substance misuse are common, particularly in high conflict parenting disputes.
Roneea Patsouris discusses these issues in the short video below. Roneea’s experience dealing with conflict and people in stressful and vulnerable situations translates to being able to help people through complex family law disputes.
Managing those allegations and the risks to the children can be complicated - but it is the process that the court goes through, in seeking to minimise the risk to the children and to make sure that kids can have a safe relationship with their parents.
It's really important if you have suspicions that your former partner may have substance abuse or misuse issues, or you yourself may have them, that you speak with a family lawyer.
We can tell you what to expect in terms of the outcomes you could receive from a court, but also the process that the court expects you to go through.
One of those processes is getting on top of things early to disprove any allegations by undertaking some voluntary testing, for example.
Children have a right to have a meaningful relationship with both parents and to spend time with both parents. The primary objective is to get the family back on track so that kids can have that sort of relationship whilst being protected from any risk that substance abuse or misuse issues may pose to them.
How can I learn more?
Roneea is a lawyer in the firm’s family law team. She is fluent in Greek and has strong ties in the Greek and Cypriot communities in Melbourne.
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