Rose ’ s Story
berry street victoria annual report 2006 page 11 families
Rose ’ s Story
Rose ’ s parents separated when her mother , Erma , was pregnant . Her father , Nestor , wanted to be involved with Rose , but major cultural and religious differences had resulted in a complete breakdown in communication between Nestor and Erma and her family .
After an application by Nestor , the Court ordered fortnightly access at our Contact Centre in Watsonia .
Our goal was to make access as positive as possible for Rose , who was just 4 . Initially , Rose was quite hesitant with Nestor , but with the support and encouragement of our skilled staff , she started to enjoy their time together . Although we tried to include Rose ’ s grandmother , her constant criticism of Nestor was distressing to Rose and we had to ask her not to attend .
After several months of supervised access and changeovers , Erma could see how important Nestor was to Rose . They finally agreed on a plan which they could manage themselves – a very successful outcome .