If you are leaving your abusive ex-husband, you may be concerned about how you can prevent your ex-husband from having access to your children. Luckily while the courts make every effort to give the children an opportunity to have a relationship with both parents there are processes in place to make sure that children do not get exposed to violence. Here are some of the steps to take when you leave your ex-husband.

Gather evidence of the abuse

If your child has missed school, or turned up with bruising or evidence of abuse you may be able to get some supporting documentation from the school. You can also get supporting documentation from any trips to the doctor, sessions with psychologists and counsellors and any callouts from police. If there was an incident precipitating you leaving your husband, you may also like to get a restraining order to restrict immediate access to yourself, and your children.

Meet with a family lawyer

In order to proceed with limiting access, you'll be advised to go through initial mediation with your ex-husband. If you find the process intimidating it can be advising to have a support person with you to help manage the mediation process. A lawyer can sit with you this process, and give you some advice. If you need help selecting an experienced family lawyer, many women's refuges and support networks have lists of supportive lawyers who are experienced in managing family court proceedings that involve abuse.

Show some flexibility

While you may want your ex-husband to never see your children again, many times the children are still interested in seeing their father no matter what the family history has been. Even if there has been abuse, you may be able to coordinate opportunities like phone calls, video calls or letter to help your child maintain a relationship with their other parent.

Supervised visits can also be organised, using the Children's Contact Service where a Children's Contact Officer supervises the parental access visits and ensures the interactions remain positive and beneficial for the child.

You can also use this service to organise supervised changeovers so that you don't need to be concerned about your child witnesses violence between you and your ex-husband.

Best of luck in leaving this abusive situation and starting this new phase of your life. Following through with the appropriate legal processes can make the divorce as smooth and calm as possible for you and your family. For more information or support, consult resources like Catalyst Family Lawyers.