A father has told a court that he only became aware that his young son was circumcised when getting him ready for bed.
At the Family Law Court, the father told Judge Alec Gabbett that his former partner, and mother of their boy, did not inform him that their son had undergone a scheduled circumcision at hospital.
After hearing that the father was not informed, the judge told the mother, “Dad has a right to know” about such medical issues concerning the boy, now aged under 6.
At the court hearing, the solicitor for the father said that her client, who is a guardian of the child, “had no idea” about the circumcision.
RM Block
The mother is the boy’s primary carer, while the father has access.
The case was before the court after it previously ordered an expert assessment to provide insight into the child’s welfare.
The father said when getting his son ready for bed one evening, the boy “was covering his private area and he was very upset and I thought there was something wrong and then I saw the stitches”.
The judge told the court that there is nothing out of the ordinary about getting circumcised, noting that 95 per cent of the US male population has had the procedure.
The judge said he didn’t know how the mother consented to the procedure on her own. He said that it sounds like the mother’s outlook is that the child “is just hers”.
On behalf of her client, the father’s solicitor said: “That does seem to be the common theme, that she believes that he is just hers.”
The solicitor added that in relation to schooling for the boy, the father only found out that his son was attending a certain school through a Facebook post. She said that the boy “was baptised without my client knowing and all these issues continue to persist. He is never advised in advance.”
She said that on another occasion, the child was brought to hospital with a seizure but the father was not told that the child was there at the time. She said the father only learned that the child was in hospital through a Facebook post by a relative.
The judge said the mother may have been in a blind panic getting the child to hospital, “but Dad has a right to know”.
The expert report recommended that the mother keep a diary of medical and school issues concerning the son to be shared with the father and the judge directed that this take place.
The report also recommended a parenting course for the two and the judge also directed that this take place.
“Let’s have good communication from here on now and the parenting course will assist,” he added.
