Still no formal decision in a custody battle before the Owen Sound courts.
Judge Robert Thompson wants to begin a formal investigation with Australia’s equivalent of child protective services before deciding to send two-year old Daine Cannock there, where his father is.
The judge was supposed to make a formal decision yesterday, but said he doesn’t want the boy just “parachuted” into the country without any assurance of the living conditions he’ll enter.
Daine’s grandmother, Esther Gieringer,says she’s relieved the judge is looking into the situation with the father, even though it reinforces that the judge will eventually send Daine to Australia.
Also, she’s worried that the situation in Australia could look good during the investigation, but it won’t uphold once the boy is living there.
The judge also wants to know whether the mother, Jessica, who is about eight months pregnant now, will go to Australia for custody hearings if the case is return to the jurisdiction of the Australian courts.
She had previously said she wouldn’t but Gieringer says it’s something the family is seriously considering now.
The child is a Canadian citizen, but most of his habitual residence is in Australia, and the father is fighting for custody under provisions in the UN’s Hague Treaty.
