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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1999 Week 7 Hansard (1 July) . . Page.. 1958 ..
CHILDRENS COURT
The role of the Childrens Court under the Bill is to address child protection and parental responsibility issues by the making of Care and Protection orders. It is not intended as a forum for resolution of relationship disputes between adults, which will remain the primary province of the Family Court. Of course it also attends to youth justice issues, to which I shall return shortly.Two further themes guide the reforms.
Firstly there is the notion that the procedures and effects of child protection intervention should be clear at all stages. Hence there is a raft of provisions describing who has responsibility for what at various stages following emergency protective action and during court proceedings. To this end the procedures of the court surrounding directions hearings, interim orders, service of documents and joinder of parties etc. are spelled out much more clearly in the Bill than they were in the Childrens Services Act.
Secondly, decision-makers are exhorted to act without delay so as not to prejudice the wellbeing of the child or young person. They are also to strive from the outset for settled and permanent living arrangements for the child or young person. In this regard the time-limits around the hearing of matters in court is the subject of close attention by the Bill.
The Bill establishes a mechanism for what are known as 'Short' and 'Final' Care and Protection Orders. Short orders are intended to be available quickly and in an uncomplicated manner, even for one-off events such as assessment. Final orders may require more intense deliberation and may. be long-term in nature and duration.
Timeliness issues are addressed through the requirement for the court to determine applications for 'short' orders within 14 days, and applications for final orders within 10 weeks. Further, if the court makes a short care and protection order for assessment of a child or young person, it may allow up to 4 weeks for the assessment, with extensions of up to a total of only 4 more weeks. Where the Bill allows for parties to apply for orders on specific issues related to parental responsibility for children or young people, it anticipates that orders will last only for a period of 18 weeks. It is intended that, if longer-term orders are needed, the chief executive will seek final care and protection orders.
EXPANDED ORDER-MAKING POWERS
A key feature of the Bill in relation to the court is the expansion of its specific order-making powers. Under the Childrens Services Act the options available to the court on adjournment and when making final orders on care applications were limited, in the former case to orders
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