Announcements
2012 Announcements
Country Care Circuit Roster 2012
New Practice Note 7 Compulsory Schooling Orders
Care Circles - expanded to Lismore
2011 Announcements
New Practice Note No. 6 Assessment Orders
New Practice Note No. 5 Case Management
Practice Note No.4 Short Term Care Orders Pilot Project
Juvenile Justice and community-based sentencing for juveniles in New South Wales- Seminar on Sentencing and Related Issues in Judicial Practice - Shenzhen, China, May 2011 (MS Word, 138kb)
Care proceedings and appeals to the District Court - Disctrict Court of NSW Annual Conference, April 2011 (MS Word, 168kb)
Contact Guidelines are now available (MS Word, 73kb)
Podcast about Alternative Dispute Resolution Procedures in the Children's Court launched
Alternative Dispute Resolution Procedures in the Children's Court commence on 7 February
2010 Announcements
Country Care Circuits Rosters for 2011
Latest Issue of Children's Law News
President Issues Amended Practice Note No. 2
Care Circuits Rosters
Pilot of a “docket system” in care and protection matters
2009 Announcements
Role of the Children’s Court Clinic Assessment Report in Decision Making
Guardians ad Litem Programme update
October Children's Law News
Updated Care Forms
Transcript of President's Ceremonial Sitting
New Practice Note issued - YDAC
Children's Court Magistrates in 2010
First President of the Children's Court
Children Legislation Amendment (Wood Inquiry Recommendations) Act 2009 commences 1 June 2009
All Practice Notes have been withdrawn
February 2012
Practice Note 7 issued "Legal Representation for Children and Young Persons in Proceedings for Compulsory Schooling Orders"
Practice Note 7 was issued on 24 February 2012 by the President of the Children's Court, Judge Marien SC. The purpose of this practice note is to provide for the appointment of a legal representative for a child or young person in proceedings for a compulsory schooling order under the Education Act 1990 prior to the first listing of the matter before the Children’s Court. The Practice Note commences on 27 February 2012.
Country Care Circuits Rosters for 2012
The Children's Court conducts permanent circuits in regional areas of NSW to allow specialist Children's Magistrates to deal with care and protection cases in the Lismore, Dubbo and Riverina regions. The following document details the standard sitting arrangements for those regions in 2012. Please note that week 1 commences from the first Monday of each month.
New care applications filed at the nominated courts should be listed as soon as possible before the Local Court Magistrate or on a nominated list day before the Children's Magistrate, but only if that day is earlier than the matter could be listed before the Local Court Magistrate. After dealing with any application for interim orders Local Court Magistrates will ordinarily adjourn the matter to the day nominated as the list day before the specialist Children's Magistrate and thereafter the matter will be case managed and if necessary, heard by the specialist Children's Magistrate.
For all other courts not covered by these permanent circuits a country assistance protocol applies. Under this protocol Local Court Magistrates are able to seek the assistance of the President of the Children's Court to allocate a Children's Magistrate to hear complex cases requiring specialist knowledge, matters that are likely to exceed the time standards and matters that require a lengthy hearing.
Country Care Circuit Roster 2012
Care Circles - expanded to Lismore
The Honourable Greg Smith SC MP, Attorney General and Minister for Justice launched an expansion of the Care Circle program to Lismore on 8 December 2011. Care Circles enable Aboriginal families to meet with the other parties involved in care and protection proceedings together with Aboriginal leaders and a Children's Magistrate to discuss issues that have lead to action being taken in the Children's Court and to develop a plan for the future safety and wellbeing of the child. The expansion of the program follows the successful implementation of a pilot program in Nowra. It is anticipated that referrals will be accepted in March 2012.
September 2011
Practice Note 5 Issued "Case Management in Care Proceedings"
Practice Note 5 was issued by the President of the Children's Court, Judge Marien SC on 2 September 2011. The purpose of this practice note is to ensure that care and protection cases are managed in a consistent and timely manner.
Practice Note 6 Issued "Children's Court Clinic Assessment Applications and Attendance of Authorised Clinicians at ..."
Practice Note 6 was issued by the President of the Children's Court, Judge Marien SC on 2 September 2011. The purpose of this practice note is to ensure that applications for assessment orders in the care and protection jurisdiction are dealt with consistently and that where Authorised Clinicians are required to attend court or alternative dispute resolution their attendance is managed efficiently.
March 2011
Podcast about Alternative Dispute Resolution Procedures in the Children's Court launched
The Children's Court has released three audio podcasts relating to the new model of Disptue Resolution Conference and the external mediation pilot in the Bidura Children's Court.
Part 1 - Background information on the two new Alternative Dispute Resolution programs
Part 2 - New model of Dispute Resolution Conference
Part 3 - External mediation pilot (the Bidura pilot) and the independent evaluation of both programs
February 2011
Alternative Dispute Resolution Procedures in the Children's Court commence on 7 February
The Children's Court is implementing the greater use of alternative dispute resolution procedures in care and protection proceedings. This change follows recommendations by The Hon James Wood AO QC in his 2008 report of the Special Commission of Inquiry into Child Protection Services in NSW.
In furtherance of these recommendations, a new model of a dispute resolution conference (DRC) under s. 65 of the Children and Young Persons (Care and Protection) Act 1998 (the Care Act) is being implemented to replace "preliminary conferences" together with a court referred external mediation pilot at the Bidura Children's Court (under s.65A of the Care Act). The Bidura Pilot applies ONLY to cases at the Bidura Children's Court and cases from other courts should NOT be transferred to Bidura only for the purpose of including the case in the Pilot.
Dispute Resolution Conferences (DRCs)
The new model of DRCs commences on Monday 7 February 2011. The Court has issued Practice Note No. 3 which describes the procedures for conducting DRCs. For a copy of the Practice Note click here or see the Care and Protection - Practice and Procedure section of this website. Below is a brief overview of the internal and external alternative dispute resolution procedures.
DRCs under s. 65 will be conducted by Children's Registrars. They will run for a minimum of two hours, and personal attendance will be required by:
• all parties (except children) and their legal representative (if the party is legally represented)
• the child's legal representative
• the Community Services Caseworker, and Casework Manager
• the Community Services legal representative
DRCs will be conducted as a conciliation process. In this sense, a DRC will be a process in which the parties, with the assistance of the Children's Registrar, identify the issues in dispute, develop options, consider alternatives and endeavour to reach an agreement. Under a conciliation model, the Children's Registrar has an advisory role, but not a determinative one, and might, for instance, express views on what the Court may consider relevant if the matter goes to a hearing. The Children's Registrar is also responsible for managing the DRC, including setting the ground rules, managing any apparent power imbalance between the participants and ensuring the participants conduct themselves appropriately.
The usual confidentiality arrangements apply to a DRC, pursuant to clause 11 of the Children and Young Persons (Care and Protection) Regulation 2000.
External mediation pilot
The external mediation pilot commenced in the Bidura Children's Court on 9 September 2010. A number of external mediations have now been held.
The external mediation pilot is being managed by Legal Aid NSW. A panel of mediators has been selected from Legal Aid's Family Dispute Resolution Practitioner Panel, and have received specialised training in the care and protection jurisdiction.
Mediations are scheduled for a minimum duration of three hours, and are conducted at Legal Aid's Castlereagh St offices.
Those required to attend an external mediation session are the same as those required to attend a DRC under s65. Participants are also asked to sign a confidentiality agreement.
The Bidura Pilot will run for approximately 12 months.
During this time, cases from Bidura that are suitable for mediation will go to the external mediation pilot, rather than through a DRC.
December 2010
Country Care Circuits Rosters for 2011
Firstly, in regions of the state where there is consistent workload the Children's Court will provide specialist Children's Magistrates to operate two permanent circuits from 7 February 2011. These circuits will operate in the Lismore, Dubbo and Riverina regions in accordance with the attached document. Please note that week one commences from the first Monday of each month.
New care applications filed at these courts should be listed as soon as possible before the Local Court Magistrate or on a nominated list day before the Children's Magistrate, but only if that day is earlier than the matter could be listed before the Local Court Magistrate. After dealing with any application for interim orders Local Court Magistrates should adjourn the matter to the day nominated as the list day before the specialist Children's Magistrate and thereafter the matter will be case managed by the specialist Children's Magistrate.
For all other courts not covered by these permanent circuits a new country assistance protocol will apply. Under this new protocol Local Court Magistrates will be able to seek the assistance of the President to allocate a Children's Magistrates to hear complex cases requiring specialist knowledge, matters that are likely to exceed the time standards and matters that require a lengthy hearing.
2011 Country Care Circuits Roster
October 2010
President Issues Amended Practice Note No. 2
The President has issued an Amended Practice Note No. 2. This Practice Note takes effect from 27 September 2010.
For a copy of the current Practice Note No. 2 click here or see the "Care and Protection" or "Policy Documents and Tables Documents" sections of the website.
June 2010
Care Circuits Rosters 2011
Following the recommendation of the Report of the Special Commission of Inquiry into Child Protection Services in New South Wales, the Court has committed to making more specialist Children's Magistrates available to hear more complex contested care and protection cases. To this end the President of the Children's Court has allocated care circuits in rural and regional areas of New South Wales for 2010.
Notwithstanding the recent appointment of additional Children's Magistrates it is not anticipated that all care and protection cases will be able to be dealt with by a specialist Children’s Magistrate and due to the small or changeable volume of care matters in some locations it may not be practicable to schedule specific sittings in some areas of the State. However, assistance can be provided on a case by case basis to areas not covered by the scheduled sittings. A protocol is already in place for Local Court Magistrates to seek assistance from the Children’s Court where the particular circumstances of the case justifies the use of a specialist Children’s Magistrates or the Local Court is unable to deal with the matter under the Children's Court established time standards for care and protection cases.
Care and protection proceedings filed in rural and regional courts will ordinarily be case managed by the local Magistrate, and as far as possible given priority when listing.
For information on circuit rosters organised for 2010 please click on the links below:
Care circuits roster July- December 2010 (xls, 27kb)
Care circuits roster March-June 2010 (xsl, 25kb)
May 2010
Latest issue of Children's Law News
The Children's Court has released a new edition of Children's Law News featuring the latest judgments from the Court's crime and care jurisdiction.
February 2010
Pilot of a “docket system” in care and protection matters
commencing on 8 February 2010 at the Parramatta Children's Court
The Hon James Wood AO QC in his Report of the Special Commission of Inquiry into Child Protection Services in NSW made a number of recommendations concerning the practice and procedure of the Children’s Court of New South Wales. One of those recommendations is that a trial of a formal “docket system” should be undertaken in the care and protection jurisdiction at the Parramatta Children’s Court.
In his report Commissioner Wood describes a “docket system” as a system of case management whereby cases are allocated to a single judicial officer for the duration of proceedings (from the first return date to the final hearing). Commissioner Wood took the view that such a system would ensure that a consistent approach was adopted throughout the course of proceedings.
It is widely recognised that a docket system may result in other significant benefits. Such benefits include greater time efficiencies resulting from the judicial officer responsible for a particular case having a close knowledge of the case and the relevant issues in the case. It is also recognised that a docket system, whereby the same judicial officer manages the case from the first time the proceedings come before the court, may result in greater understanding of and satisfaction in the ultimate result by the parties.
The Children’s Court supports Commissioner Wood’s recommendation that a trial of a docket system be conducted at the Parramatta Children’s Court. Accordingly, as from Monday 8 February 2010 the court will, as far as is practicably possible, allocate the same judicial officer to conduct the Monday and Friday care list days at that court. As far as is practicably possible the allocated judicial officer will case manage all the matters in their list and, should the matter require to be listed for a hearing, that judicial officer will list the matter for hearing before himself or herself at a time convenient to the court and, as far as is reasonably possible, to the parties.
The Tuesday care list will not be included in the trial and different judicial officers may be allocated to sit on that list day.
The court’s listing practice at Parramatta Children’s Court with respect to care applications will continue; that is, if an application is filed before midday on a particular day the matter will be listed before the court on the next sitting day. If an application is filed after midday on a particular day the matter will be listed before the court on the second sitting day following the filing of the application. In this regard, Community Services should, as far as is reasonably practicable, endeavour to file an application so that the matter will, in accordance with the above practice, first come before the court on the list day applicable to the relevant Community Services Centre. In this way, cases in the Monday and Friday list days, will, as far as is possible, be subject to case management under the new docket system from the time the matter first comes before the court.
The trial will be conducted for a period of 12 months. It is proposed that an evaluation of the pilot will be conducted during which feedback will be sought from both practitioners and the parties as to their satisfaction with the new system.
His Honour Judge Mark Marien SC
President
1 February 2010
November 2009
Role of the Children’s Court Clinic Assessment Report in Decision Making
Read Judge Marien's address delivered Friday, 30 October, to the clinicians at the Court Clinic's Professional Development Day in
 word (91 kb) or  PDF (39 kb).
October 2009
Transcript of President's Ceremonial Sitting
On 1 June there was a ceremonial sitting of the Court to welcome Judge Marien as the first President of the Children's Court of New South Wales. Copies of the welcome speeches made by the Attorney General and Mr Joseph Catanzariti, President of the Law Society of New South Wales, and Judge Marien's speech in reply, are attached below.
Read the transcript (50 kb)
August 2009
New Practice Note issued - YDAC
On 28 August 2009 the President, Judge Marien issued Practice Note No. 1 Youth Drug and Alcohol Court.
Children's Court Magistrates in 2010
The Court is pleased to announce the following Local Court Magistrates will be sitting as specialist Children's Court Magistrates in 2010:
- Magistrate Baptie
- Magistrate Blewitt
- Magistrate Carney
- Magistrate Corry
- Magistrate Ellis
- Magistrate Hogg
- Magistrate Keogh
- Magistrate Mulroney
- Magistrate Murphy
- Magistrate Russell
- Magistrate Ryan
- Magistrate Sbrizzi
June 2009
First President of the Children's Court of NSW
 Judge Mark Marien is the inaugural President of the Children’s Court of New South Wales, his appointment celebrated at a ceremonial sitting attended by the NSW Attorney General John Hatzistergos in a crowded Court Six on 1 June. Judge Marien sat with the full bench of the court to hear welcome speeches from the Attorney General and Mr Joseph Catanzariti, President of the Law Society of New South Wales, and to give his speech in reply.
As outlined by the Attorney, Judge Marien’s distinguished career in the law and public life included recently serving on the District Court Bench, admission to the Bar in 1986 and membership of the Mental Health Review Tribunal and the board of the Inner City Legal Centre.
A former Arts/Law graduate, Judge Marien maintains a keen interest in the arts as a longtime Board member of both the Seymour Centre Group and the Marian Street Theatre. He was also Business Manager and Assistant to the General Manager of the Australian Opera from 1982 –1985.
Mr Hatzistergos said the role of President of the Children’s Court was created as part of the reforms made to protect children from harm and to deter them from offending. He said the government reforms were based on the landmark report, entitled Keeping Them Safe, of former Supreme Court Justice the Honourable James Wood AO QC, and implemented in the Children Legislation Amendment (Wood Inquiry Recommendations) Act 2009.
May 2009
Children Legislation Amendment (Wood Inquiry Recommendations) Act 2009 commences 1 June 2009
The following provisions of the Children Legislation Amendment (Wood Inquiry Recommendations) Act 2009 will commence on 1 June 2009:
(a) Schedule 2.1[4]
(b) Schedule 2.2 [1] - [6], [8], [9] and [11] - [15]
(c) Schedule 2.2 [16] (except to the extent that it would insert clause 8 in Schedule 2 to the Children's Court Act 1987)
(d) Schedule 2.3,
(e) Schedule 2.4,
(f) Schedule 2.5,
(g) Schedule 2.6 [1] and [2]
December 2008
All Practice Notes have been withdrawn
All practice notes relating to the Children's Court are withdrawn pending legislative authority. Practice notes will be issued on a case by case basis.
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