According to lawyer Rod Powe, the ice epidemic is having a detrimental effect on the lives of countless children in the Hunter.

Mr Powe, a family lawyer with 30 years experience – 21 of which he has spent in Maitland – said ice was a prime cause of family breakdown, domestic and family violence and made the custody process a long and arduous battle.

“Ten years ago we were talking about speed, now we talk about ice,” Mr Powe said.

“How it impacts is high level violence, major mood swings, and equally applies to male and female.

“From my experience you will find it is a drug of choice for a couple and then it gets out of control.

“It is addictive and it’s just disastrous – a disastrous drug.”

The experienced lawyer said the Hunter is known within the legal circle as a difficult place to practice because of the high level of drug use.

Often by the time a case reaches the family court it has escalated to a point where there are serious concerns for the wellbeing and custody of the child.

Despite the severity of these situations the child is often let down by a court process which encourages mediation over judicial intervention and can drag out the process for several years.

“One would expect if there is a dispute involving children there would be a process whereby that could be resolved extremely ­promptly particularly if it involves a judicial decision,” he said.

“The problem that we have is what we call court delays, throughout Australia this has expanded from months to years.

“I have been involved in matters with children where it has taken over five years before the matter comes on for judicial determination.

“So you imagine you’ve got a matter where the child is one or two, then that child is not settled until they are five, six or seven.

“Those children will be considerably psychologically impaired, let alone the psychological effects on the mother or father.”

According to the Maitland lawyer the average delay in the Hunter’s family court is 18 months to two years, but it is not unusual to see cases spinning out to three years.

In 2015 the Family Court of Australia and Federal Circuit Court of Australia’s Newcastle registry, the main court for the Hunter, received 3389 applications for proceedings.

This figure included all party filings for divorce, parenting and property applications which were farmed out to just three judges.

“Over the past several months, the courts have worked extremely hard to reduce delays in having matters listed and heard,” a court spokeswoman said.

“Throughout 2015 the Federal Circuit Court brought in additional judges from other locations to hear matters, existing judges worked incredibly hard to get through their workloads and, importantly, a new judge commenced in December and has started hearing cases.

“While the workload continues to be demanding, the pressures and delays are not as intense as last year. 

“The courts will continue to monitor the situation and continue to do its best to make sure that unreasonable delays are not experienced by families in the Newcastle and Maitland region.”

Many of these cases never reach a judge because the cost associated with taking a matter to family court can push people towards settling the matter ­during mediation.

The minimum cost for a parent to take a custody issue through the courts is between $25,000 and $30,000.

“For the majority of the population the use of the family law system is outside of their financial capability,” Mr Powe said.

“What will happen is a lot of people will accept outcomes that really aren’t in the best interest of their children or in the best interest of either party simply because they can’t afford the process.”

The Family Court of Australia and Federal Circuit Court of Australia could not comment on the impact of ice on the court system, the average waiting times or the cost to individuals.

“What we have in our society is a breakdown of family relationships,” Mr Powe said.

“The judges outside this area see the Hunter as being a particularly difficult area and the cases have a sameness to them

“The common themes of family breakdown, relationship breakdown, drug use, alcohol use.

“The court consistently is referring matters and inviting the department to be involved but they don’t have the resources.

“It is really sad.”