Special arrangements - care and protection cases

Special arrangements apply to the listing of care and protection cases in rural and regional areas.

Where a Children's Magistrate sits periodically on a circuit, all new care applications filed 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 for care and protection cases. 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 care and protection cases requiring specialist knowledge, matters that are likely to exceed the time standards and matters that require a lengthy hearing.