Care Proceedings in the Children's Court - C&DS Discussion paper January 2006

Under the Community Services (Complaints, Reviews and Monitoring Act) 1993, the Ombudsman has the function of reviewing the deaths of certain children, including children who were reported to the Department of Community Services (DoCS) in the three years prior to their death, and children who died in circumstances of abuse or neglect or in suspicious circumstances. The focus of reviewing child deaths is to consider the circumstances prior to the death of a child and the role of human service agencies in their life, with a view to identifying issues that may inform strategies for the prevention of future deaths. This focus has required us to look closely at the child protection system in NSW. As care proceedings in the Children's Court represent a significant part of the child protection system, we decided that it was relevant for us to look closely at how care proceedings operate. The purpose of this paper is to provide a detailed discussion of matters connected with the conduct of care proceedings. In doing so, we believe that this paper will assist people understanding the issues involved, and provide an opportunity for feedback for the purposes of further discussions. At the end of this paper, we point out that there might be value in the organisation of an appropriate forum to focus on a number of matters discussed in this paper.