Pubdate: Fri, 08 Sep 2006
Source: North Shore News (CN BC)
Copyright: 2006 North Shore News
Contact:  http://www.nsnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/311
Author: Jane Seyd

COURT ALLOWS GRANDMOTHER VISITATION

A North Vancouver judge has ruled that a grandmother should be allowed
access to her six-year-old grandson, despite the mother's concerns
that visits are stressful to the child or could be used to allow
access to the child's drug-addicted father.

Judge Doug Moss of the North Vancouver provincial court ruled after a
recent hearing that the mother's blanket denial of access to the
grandmother wasn't reasonable. He ordered that the grandmother
continue to be allowed supervised visits with her grandson.

The grandmother applied to the court to be allowed to see her grandson
after the mother stopped previous supervised visits in July of 2005.

The mother and her new partner told the judge the visits were
stressful both for the child and the mother. The mother also feared
the grandmother was trying to become a conduit for the child's father
to gain access to him.

The judge agreed that the father should not have any access, noting he
was a drug-addicted and abusive spouse with "a proclivity for
relatively serious criminal activity" and was in jail on drugs and
weapons charges when the court hearing took place.

But the judge said that didn't mean the grandmother shouldn't see her
grandson.

He ordered that supervised visits with the grandmother once every two
weeks be resumed.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Derek