Family Court Nod for Skype

THE Family Court is allowing mothers to leave the country with their children, provided they agree to sign up for the internet-based video telephone service Skype.

A compulsory subscription to Skype, which allows parents to see their children on the computer screen while talking to them, has been a feature of 10 Family Court cases this year. One judge has said the technology was helping to mitigate the "tyranny of distance" arising from divorce and forging "meaningful relationships" between children and their parents, wherever in the world they live.

In one recent case, a mother was allowed to move with her nine-year-old son to the US. But, she was told, she had to "ensure that whilst the child lives with her in America he has reasonable access to a computer which has a Skype program installed, together with a webcam, in order that the child may communicate with his father by that means or by email at times which the child and his father may mutually agree upon".

In another case, a mother was permitted to return to her native Sweden with her two children, after her marriage ended. He ordered the mother to "obtain a computer which has internet access installed, including a webcam and Skype" within 14 days of her arrival in Sweden, and to provide the father with the children's email addresses.

Other court statements include:

• both parents being ordered to "each set up at their own expense as soon as practicable, but within eight weeks, a computer with internet connection and a webcam and Skype".

• federal magistrate Stewart Brown said Skype was a "cheap, accessible and effective way" for children to stay in contact with their absent parent. "Although it is no substitute for direct physical contact, these media, in my view, dilute to a significant degree some of the tyranny of distance," he said.

But not all judges believe that Skype can facilitate a meaningful relationship, saying "the reality of all types of communication other than face-to-face is that they are inferior, and only a default choice".

Story by: Caroline Overington
Full story, including details of the cases in: The Australian IT


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