Mum reunited with custody-war daughters

Four girls have been reunited with their mother after she was granted temporary custody amid a drawn-out international dispute with the girls’ father.

The Family Court judge, in granting custody, said evidence the girls were considering self-harm while in foster care was “appalling and tragic”.

In another twist in the case, federal police may be called in to investigate the disappearance of public donations made to the girls and their support network.

The judge, who cannot be named, ruled the sisters should be removed from foster care in the inner west Brisbane suburb of Ashgrove and put under their mother’s supervision in the interim from 7pm (AEST) Friday.

The girls have been trying to avoid a Family Court order to return to Italy with their father.

They are allowed to stay in Australia pending a High Court challenge in August.

Both parents remained tight-lipped after the hearing, although the strain of the day’s proceedings was apparent on the face of the mother as she left the Brisbane court flanked by her legal team.

The father, who had arrived from Italy a day earlier, showed no emotion as he sat metres from the mother in the court room.

Earlier, the mother had broken down as the court heard how her daughters cried inconsolably when family visits came to an end.

The court heard one of the girls, in her teens, had spoken of cutting her wrists and written something to the effect of: “What do I have to do to get back home, do I have to kill myself?”

A supervisor had said the girl was just using an expression and didn’t mean to harm herself, but the judge called the evidence “appalling and tragic”.

“I am profoundly concerned that the continued absence of their mother from their day-to-day lives and their continued placement in care may bring about actions by them which are seriously harmful to them,” he said in granting custody to the mother.

Earlier, barrister James Linklater-Steele for the Department of Communities had argued that keeping them in foster care was “the lesser of two evils”, partly because the girls presented a flight risk.

The court also heard that money that was donated to the sisters and their support network via a Facebook page has gone missing.

Mr Linklater-Steele said the Kids Without Voices page had been ordered shut down but it appeared that a person named “Chris” had made off with the funds. He did not say how much money was missing.

The judge granted his application to publish the relevant evidence submitted to the court so federal police could investigate.

It’s not yet known whether an investigation has been launched.

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