Best Interests Children's Law Podcast

"In Conversation" is a parallel series where we invite lived experience speakers to come share our stories with us.  In this episode, James Harding, a lived experience advocate, shares his journey developing Hard Cuddles, a lived experience service based in Melbourne, Australia, aimed at providing support and resources to those dealing with mental health challenges. The service emphasise...

Children with disabilities experience increased vulnerability than most children and the intersectionality of risk factors present for these children may have an overlay of issues with how carers and systems are set up to help them. Instead of being seen as a young person who needs support, children with disabilities are more likely to be subject to child protection claims and out of home care as...

A number of women and children are adversely affected by family violence across their lifetime that has immediate and long-lasting effects on their psychosocial, developmental, cognitive and social-emotional health. The Safe Nest Group (SNG) program is designed as a weekly, 6 session intervention for women and their infants who are under 3 years old, to engage in a group session underpinned by tra...

The role of Supervised Children contact centres (SCCC) are necessary in forming a space where children feel safe and supported to reconnect with non-residential parents. These centres assist in strengthening the child's relationship with the estranged parent and facilitate a healthier relationship despite the challenging circumstances that give rise to the necessity of supervised contact. The...

In “The Importance of Being Well at Work” series we explore what it takes to maintain health and wellbeing when working in trauma saturated environments – in this case, where the work involves working for or on behalf of children. In this final episode of the series, we focus on the health and wellbeing of child protection workers. We speak to Sahra Mogorovich to discuss the importance of wellbein...

Elicia Savvas’s Churchhill Fellowship report, released in September 2024, explores children’s legal services and related organisations in the United States, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. The Churchill report largely focuses on the features and benefits of child centred legal services, the need for independent advocacy, and how children’s court systems can support meaningful participation. It con...

Youth detention in Australia is a complex issue that intersects with human rights, public safety and social justice. The treatment of young people in detention is a critical focus area for human rights advocates who have long identified repeat violations of Australia’s international obligations to uphold the human rights of children in detention. And yet, despite these known violations, and despit...

In Victoria, matters alleging the abuse or neglect of children are heard in the Family Division of the Children’s Court – a specialist court designed to hear child protection matters. However, the Children’s Court is notoriously adversarial. Litigation can be protracted, traumatising for families, and occurs in a system where the prosecuting authority is simultaneously trying to work collaborative...

Corporal punishment in the home, in one form of the other, is legal in every State of Australia. Whilst corporal punishment still appears to be commonly used within our country in practice, studies indicate corporal punishment is increasingly being seen as an unnecessary form of discipline. If cultural attitudes are changing, but the incidence of corporal punishment is still unacceptably high, the...

The Reportable Conduct Scheme outlines the obligations of organisations covered by the Scheme to notify the Commission for Children and Young People (CCYP) of reportable allegations made against workers of an organisation.. Its purpose is to help identify individuals who pose a risk of harm to children and young people, promote information sharing between government regulators and organisations, a...

In “The Importance of Being Well at Work” series we explore what it takes to maintain health and wellbeing when working in trauma saturated environments – in this case, where the work involves working for or on behalf of children. In this episode, we focus on the health and wellbeing of psychologists. We speak to Ashleigh Barber, an Educational and Developmental Psychologist dedicated to providing...

In “The Importance of Being Well at Work” series we explore what it takes to maintain health and wellbeing when working in trauma saturated environments such as the children’s law jurisdiction.  In this episode we talk to Marguerite Picard who began her career in crime, family and children’s law and very quickly worked out either she, or traditional forms of lawyering, had to go. This is her story...

"In Conversation" is a parallel series where we invite lived experience speakers to come share our stories with us.  In this episode, Paige Buck, a lived experience advocate, shares her journey growing up in care and the experiences that inspired her to become a lawyer, advocating for children and families navigating the child protection system. Best Interests thanks all lived experience...

Harmful sexual behaviours Is considered a serious and growing concern in secondary schools. This harm can encompass a range of behaviours such as sexual harassment, assault, bullying and use of online technology to stalk, harass, groom and menace.  The ongoing nature of these behaviours has catastrophic effects on those victimised and can implant and magnify attitudes and behaviours that will carr...

The Youth Justice Bill 2024, introduced into parliament on June 18, 2024, outlines plans to raise the age of criminal responsibility for most offences to 12 by early 2025. This change reflects a growing recognition of the need to approach youth justice with a focus on rehabilitation and the developmental needs of children. Scientific evidence of the brain’s development has shown that someone aged...

Suicide is the leading cause of death in young people (aged 28 to 24) in Australia. Because suicide is a preventable cause of death it is critical for us to understand the risk factors that lead to suicidal behaviours. A leading risk factor contributing to the burden of suicide in young people is child maltreatment and/or adverse childhood events but direct links between these and youth suicide is...

In “The Importance of Being Well at Work” series we explore what it takes to maintain health and wellbeing when working in trauma saturated environments – in this case, jurisdictions dealing with children’s law. In this episode we focus on the health and wellbeing of Barristers.  Show notes: Dr Michelle Sharpe, Victorian Bar – Michelle is a member of the Victorian Bar, practicing primarily in the...

The Australian Child Maltreatment Study (ACMS) is the first national study of the experiences and associated health and social outcomes of child maltreatment in Australia. A key take away of the study is that most Australians - have experienced child maltreatment. One would therefore expect the prevalence of child maltreatment to inform our public health policies. But that is not so. Despite criti...

In an effort to promote a simpler family law system and safer outcomes for families and children, the Federal government has proposed a suite of changes to the Family law Act, one of which is the abolition of the ‘presumption of equal shared parental responsibility”. But what is the ‘presumption of equal shared parental responsibility’? How did it come about? What happened between 2006, when it wa...

In “The Importance of Being Well at Work” series we explore what it takes to maintain health and wellbeing when working in trauma saturated environments such as the children’s law jurisdiction. In this episode we focus on the health and wellbeing of lawyers. A lot of people attracted to law, particularly to social justice law, are passionate about their work, highly motivated and dedicated to brin...

Being involved with the child protection system can be a scary and daunting experience for families. Victoria Legal Aid’s “Independent Family and Advocacy support” [IFAS] was a pilot program created to assist those involved in the early stages of the child protection system by offering support, non-legal advocacy, and referrals for families to legal services and other supports if required. Several...

What is a ‘psychological parent’? Why is it all the rage at the moment and what potential implications can it have for litigation in the child protection jurisdiction? Contemporary, sociological definitions of “parent” can include the notion of ‘psychological parent’ - where a person is not related to the child biologically or even by adoption but has formed a psychological bond with the child and...

High quality, healthy and happy carers lead to better mental health outcomes for children in out of home care but what support do we give carers to undertake their role and is there more we could be doing?  There is no doubting there is a persistently growing population of children in out of home care. The community relies on carers – whether they be foster carers or kinship carers – to provide a...

In 2021 the Victorian State Government proposed a suite of changes to the Children's Youth and Families Act, among them a 'no-fault' ground for statutory intervention which would allow the government to intervene when a child is at risk, regardless of whether a parent is at fault. In this episode Helen Dale, children's law specialist, discusses some of the pros and cons of a no...

"In Conversation" is a parallel series where we invite lived experience speakers to come share our stories with us.  In this episode, Leigh Pappos, lived experience advocate gives us insight into the impact her parent's drug use and itinerant lifestyle had on her as she was growing up. You may recall episode one when we interviewed Leigh about the evidence she gave at the Parliament...