When you’re charged with causing fear to, endangering, assaulting, or threatening your partner in front of your children or in a way that puts your children at risk, the court may also order you to have no contact with your children.
Try to get the court not to make that order or to allow some contact with them such as with a third party. You can ask the court instead to order that you have “no contact or parenting time with the children unless ordered by a family court.” This would let you arrange with family court to spend time with your children. You wouldn’t have to change the no contact order. The process to change the no contact order in criminal court can be difficult and take a long time.
Family law protection order
Your partner might go to family court to get a family law protection order. You might already have a parenting order that says whether you have parenting time or contact with your children, and what the conditions are. The protection order overrules the parenting order. Talk to family duty counsel at the courthouse or a family justice counsellor about how to arrange to see your children. You may have to go to family court to find out what your rights are.
The judge may order that with certain conditions you can continue to have parenting time or contact with your children. For example, the judge may say someone has to supervise your visits with your children. Remember, if a protection order is different from the parenting order, the protection order applies.