Illawarra based women's and children’s advocate @MattsJane has raised concerns about a cross jurisdictional conflict between state child protection and Federal Family laws at a parliamentary hearing.
#nswpol #auspol
#nswpol #auspol
@MattsJane The hearing into child protection and social services system was established to report on the effectiveness of the NSW child protection and social services system in responding to vulnerable children and families.
@MattsJane Founder of the group, Sisters in Law, Jane Matts says the Family Court can order children to live with parents who have been assessed by NSW child protection as a 'risk of harm' to them.
@MattsJane “For those parents who are protective, it can actually backfire on them from a Family Court perspective because they are scene as not facilitating a relationship …
@MattsJane … and that is probably one of the biggest things that I would like to see change is that if someone is conforming to state child protection requirement that they are not punished in the Family Court system for do that”
@MattsJane “People who do the right think at a state level should not be punished in the Family Court system for not facilitating a relationship when they have been told not to, so that is what I see as clash that we need to deal with – so time for a change.”
@MattsJane Ms Matts urged the committee to “request state intervention in Family Court jurisdiction as it relates to parents who've been deemed as a Risk of Significant Harm from obtaining custody unsupervised in Family Court jurisdiction and create a consistent practice of child welfare"
@MattsJane “Also of concern – how many times children who are deemed to have psychological issues, they are not given the psychological support or it is taken away by the Family Court”
@MattsJane She also raised concerns abt the independent children’s lawyer “they are officers of the court they are not the independent children’s lawyer”.
She told the hearing she has repeatedly tried to gain access to the ‘Magellan’ manual and protocol but she has been denied access.
She told the hearing she has repeatedly tried to gain access to the ‘Magellan’ manual and protocol but she has been denied access.
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