News

Changes to the Children's Court Listing Arrangements in Broadmeadow and New England Circuits

January 2024: The President of the Children’s Court has approved the following changes to the Children’s Court’s listing arrangements.

The Broadmeadow/Raymond Terrace/Singleton Circuit will no longer include Singleton. The Court will hold an additional hearing day at Broadmeadow Children’s Court on the third Tuesday of the month to replace the Singleton sitting day.

A new Children’s Court circuit in the New England region will commence from Monday 19 February 2024. The Circuit will take place on the third week of each month thereafter and incorporate Tamworth and Moree. The Listing Protocol for the New England circuit can be found on the Children's Court’s Guidelines page.   

Children's Court Annual Review 2022

December 2023: The Children’s Court of New South Wales has published its first Annual Review. The Annual Review provides detailed insights into the work undertaken by the Court in the 2022 Calendar Year, including the following:

• A history and overview of the Children’s Court
• Workload trends for the Children’s Court’s Care and Protection, Crime, Apprehended Violence Order, and Education jurisdictions
• The Children’s Court’s recent initiatives and specialist court processes and services
• The work undertaken by the Children’s Court to improve services to Aboriginal Communities
• Projects and resources relating to legal education, support and engagement with the community

Children's Law News

December 2023: CLN 2023 Volume 2 has now been published and includes a number of cases and a paper which are of relevance to the Children’s Court jurisdiction. 

Changes to Form 1 - Application initiating care Proceedings and accompanying report

November 2023: The Children's Court has amended its Form 1 - Application initiating care proceedings and accompanying report in response to the commencement of the remaining clauses of the Children and Young Persons (Care and Protection) Amendment (Family is Culture) Bill 2022 (NSW)

The new Form 1 is to be used for all new applications filed from 15 November 2023. 

The changes to Form 1 will ensure that evidence is provided to the Children's Court regarding the Active Efforts made by the Department of Communities and Justice prior to the filing of the application, pursuant to the new s 9A of the Children and Young Persons (Care and Protection) Act 1998 (NSW)

Additional changes have also been made to capture information about the cultural background of both the parents and the children to assist the Court with data collection in this area. The application and accompanying report have also been amended to ensure information provided to the Court is clearer. 

The new Form 1 can be found in the Forms for care and protection proceedings section of the Children's Court website. 

Commencement of the Winha-nga-nha List

August 2023:  The Children’s Court will introduce a dedicated court list for Aboriginal families involved in care proceedings at Dubbo Children’s Court from 4 September 2023. This follows a co-design process with Aboriginal community representatives and key stakeholders in response to Recommendation 125 of the Family is Culture Review Report. 

The list will be known as the Winha-nga-nha List (pronounced Wi-nun-ga-na). Winha-nga-nha is a word from the Wiradjuri language meaning to ‘know, think, remember’. The Children’s Court acknowledges the support of the Dubbo Aboriginal community in identifying and endorsing the Court’s use of the word in this context.    

The President of the Children's Court has issued Practice Note 18 – Winha-nga-nha List to support the operation of the list.    

A summary of the changes is explained in the Winha-nga-nha Factsheet (PDF, 443.6 KB).

The first sitting of the Winha-nga-nha List will be Thursday 7 September 2023.

Commencement of the Youth Koori Court at Dubbo 

July 2023: Sittings at New South Wales’ first regional Youth Koori Court at Dubbo formally commenced on 21 July 2023. The President of the Children’s Court, Judge Skinner and Children’s Magistrate Duncombe welcomed the Attorney General, the Honourable Michael Daley, the Chief Magistrate of the NSW Local Courts, Judge Johnstone, and other distinguished guests at a ceremonial sitting to mark the commencement of sittings on 21 July 2023.

The Youth Koori Court factsheet (PDF, 221.9 KB) has been updated to reflect the expansion of the Court to Dubbo and Practice Note 11 was similarly amended and reissued on 17 March 2023. 

A short video has also been prepared to accompany the commencement of the Youth Koori Court at Dubbo. 

Children's Law News

June 2023: CLN 2023 Volume 1 has now been published and includes a number of cases and a paper which are of relevance to the Children’s Court jurisdiction.