Page 3931 - Week 12 - Thursday, 29 October 2015
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It will still be important to maintain separation and distinction between the decision to approve a carer and the decision to place a child or young person with a foster carer. The specific placement of a child or young person must consider the unique circumstances, interests and needs of the child or young person and should not be a reviewable decision by the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal. The proposed amendment will not change this current arrangement.
The fifth set of amendments is about supporting young people to transition to adulthood. There is a new provision in the bill for the payment of carer subsidies to be extended to a carer where a young person continues to be in their home after turning 18, up until the age of 21 years. This proposed amendment recognises not only that all young people fare better when they are supported to transition to adulthood but also that young people in out of home care have often had to work through major issues that have impacted on their development.The sixth set of amendments is about sharing information about children and young people with the care team and relates to the previous amendment. The proposed amendments in clause 50 will allow approved care and protection organisations to declare care teams and hold information sharing delegations to identified staff within their own agencies. This will ensure people who need to share information about a young person can do so quickly and easily.
Information sharing provisions are governed by the principle that all decisions to exchange information will be in the best interests of the child or young person. Approved care and protection organisations already hold records and information about children and young people in care and are required to comply with a range of ACT and commonwealth privacy legislation.
The seventh set of amendments is about maintaining a life story for children and young people in care. Currently the director-general must give an annual review report for a child or young person to a range of people involved in the child or young person’s life. That is in section 497 of the Children and Young People Act. Approved care and protection organisations will be best placed to be responsible for annual review reports and for the preparation, implementation and review of care plans for children and young people on long-term orders.
These proposed amendments are about making decisions that promote the rights and interests of the child and achieving better outcomes for children and young people in care. Having decisions made by people closer to and with responsibility for the child or young person supports this intent. The proposed amendments will enable the director-general to delegate power to prepare annual review reports and prepare care plans to an approved kinship and foster care organisation or a residential care service.
As part of the consultation process on the exposure draft bill, it was identified that there is no need for the Childrens Court to regularly, or automatically, review annual reports that it is given as a requirement under section 497(1)(e) of the Children and Young People Act. In practice, when a care and protection matter is brought before the Childrens Court, the court requests information from the director-general about the child or young person’s circumstances and living arrangements.
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