Page 788 - Week 03 - Thursday, 2 April 2020
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
The bill also amends section 399 of the CYP Act to allow voluntary care agreements for young people in out of home care to remain in place during a public health emergency, and for this time not to count towards the maximum amount of time a voluntary care agreement can be in place. This will ensure that children and young people can remain in safe and secure arrangements during a public health emergency. To be clear, this does not remove a parent’s right to rescind a voluntary care agreement during this period.
The bill amends section 423 of the CYP Act to ensure that staff and parents will not be penalised if it is not possible to comply with all of the requirements of a care and protection order because of the public health emergency. For example, this may apply if a specific court ordered contact between a parent and a child in foster care is cancelled due to the COVID-19 public health emergency. Again, I draw attention to the way that this has been crafted to ensure that it is restricted to cases where it is not reasonably practicable for the person to comply with the order because of the COVID-19 emergency.
Other changes introduced by the bill include amendments to sections 384 and 454, which relate to appraisal and assessment orders. These amendments will provide the Childrens Court with the discretion to change the time frames for conducting appraisals or assessments if the availability of specialist health and therapeutic professionals is limited during a public health emergency. This will allow enough time for gathering the information necessary for an appraisal or assessment, which are key functions in understanding the family situation and determining a child’s need for care and protection. The changes acknowledge that there is likely to be a reduction in critical staff available for this work, particularly as this expertise is often sought from interstate; travel restrictions may mean that people are unable to attend the ACT.
The bill amends section 410 of the CYP Act to enable the director-general to seek a two-day extension and to maintain parental responsibility following emergency action in exceptional circumstances. The extension may only be granted by the Childrens Court. As members are aware, emergency action is a direct intervention in a child’s life. It may include arranging for them to stay somewhere safe, such as with a kinship or foster carer. This change will allow extra time for the director-general to file relevant material with the court, with the court’s agreement, when seeking an interim child protection order during a public health emergency.
The bill amends section 514(e) of the CYP Act to allow approval for foster and kinship carers to remain in place during a public health emergency and for six months after it ceases. This change will ensure that children can remain in safe and stable care arrangements with a foster or kinship carer. The amendment ensures that children’s living arrangements are stable and secure during the time of the public health emergency. Again, this is very important in the context of the potential for significantly reduced staffing to be available and the need to ensure that those staff who are working in child and youth protection services are focused on the most fundamental elements of the job, which relate to keeping children and young people safe and addressing new safety issues that may emerge.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video