A four-year-old former Mullumbimby pre-schooler has been reunited with her father after a Sydney court threw out an attempt by Department Of Family And Community Services (FACS) to take her into care.
The child’s father told ABC they were ‘delighted, ecstatic, over the moon and so thankful to be reunited.’
The daughter said she was ‘so happy, I just love this day, now this is my party, and I love it here, [but] I can’t wait to go to Melbourne and see my friends again.’
Police took the child from her father late last month after they were found sleeping together in a car at Sydney’s Bronte Beach.
They had been visiting the child’s grandmother in Mullumbimby over the holidays and were returning to Melbourne when the child was taken.
The pair had slept at the same spot on the way up from Melbourne and had been spotted by police then too.
The child’s grandmother told The Echo, ‘police contacted me when they slept at the same spot on their way up, but this time they just took her away.’
‘There was no verification made to assess their situation,’
The man also confirmed that no attempt had been made by police to contact his mother or his flatmates in Melbourne.
He added that police had made assumptions that he was homeless based on his previous contacts with FACS but that he had since turned his life around, had permanent lodgings for himself and the child, and she was now attending a school in Melbourne.
A rally was held in Mullumbimby on Monday in support of the father.
An earlier report by Echonetdaily was removed at the request of FACS for identifying the child.
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