[Nadia]

Thanks for the information.

You are absolutely correct about using Family Centres. It can take up to three months to complete the registration process and more importantly requires the consent of both parents.

In respect to public places. We have tried these before with some very negative outcomes. About two years ago we started using the local shopping mall, on each occasion my ex-husband became extremely frustrated about the fact that my daughter wanted to say goodbye with a hug. As far as he was concerned given that it was now 5pm he now had physical custody of the children and I was not allowed to touch them physically. He asked Mall security to get involved on two occasions for this very reason.

Then we tried the Grocery store (Fortinos) and that worked for a while, but stopped when he would no longer allow me to enter the Grocery store itself and insisted that the exchange should take place outside the doors.

We then tried to use the local police station. He used to be an auxiliary officer and is friendly with the officers who work at the station. Anyway, suffice to say, he had police officers involved on an at least two occasions. One was when I was putting mittens on my daughter, not happy with the physical contact, he alleged that he was being prevented from leaving with the children.

Then we tried third party pick up from my residence (we were living closer at that point). This worked ok, except he insisted on accompanying the third party. He would get very agitated if the Third Party entered the house to pick up the children and took longer then a minute to pick them up. There were one or two occasions where my son who was 6 months at the time, had soiled his diaper and needed it changed before the snow suit went on or my daughter desperately needed to use the bathroom. Given that it was the middle of winter, I would ask the third party (usually family that I knew), to come in out of the cold. Anyway, he'd be out there honking his horn.

This came to an end, when on one occasion, my ex-husband decided to get out of his vehicle, that he had parked behind mine on the drive way to go and have a friendly chat with the neighbors. My son had been picked up by the third party then and was out in the cold with him and his uncle. I had to get to an appointment. But my vehicle was locked in and I couldn't get out of my drive way. Asked him to remove his vehicle. An argument ensued, that led to physical assault.

I moved to a new neighborhood and until recently have had little direct contact with him. His mother and father have acted as third party and we've had no problems with pick up or drop off. That is until they went on vacation.

Now, we are back to using the police station. Not the nicest places for little children and I hate driving them out there twice a week. But I have no choice.