Page 4186 - Week 10 - Tuesday, 21 September 2010
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There is also an amendment clarifying the time frames for providing annual review reports for children and young people on reviewable care and protection orders. For vulnerable children and young people in the care of the territory, the provision of an annual review report of their circumstances, within a set period of time, is important. It provides a record for the child and their family, and it provides further stability for families in the ACT.
The protection of children and young people is also relevant to the amendments concerning the provision of sensitive information by a court, including information that may identify a reporter to parties to a proceeding. This provision protects those persons who report their concerns for the safety and wellbeing of children and young people. The court must consider in their deliberations that the best interests of the children and young people are met, as well as considering the material relevance of this information to the proceedings, before making such information available to the parties.
The amendment to include both dental therapists and dentists who provide advice and treatment to carers or young people is ensuring we include relevant professional services in the ACT. Dental therapists are an important professional body and are thoroughly regulated and supervised. Broadening the range of professionals who provide advice and treatment to children and young people in care is of benefit to these children and their carers and is certainly to be commended.
I support these amendments, as they add clarity to and strengthen the Children and Young People Act 2008, a critical piece of legislation for the care and protection of children and young people in the territory.
MS BURCH (Brindabella—Minister for Disability, Housing and Community Services, Minister for Children and Young People, Minister for Ageing, Minister for Multicultural Affairs and Minister for Women) (11.28), in reply: On 1 July 2010, I tabled amendments to the Children and Young People Act 2008. This piece of legislation was passed in the Assembly in July and was fully implemented in July 2009. The legislation is broad and far reaching, encompassing child protection, youth justice, the regulation of childcare licences and the employment of children in the territory. Since the implementation, minor issues have arisen through practice, and those needed amendment, to ensure children and young people and families are appropriately served by this legislation. The amendments I have tabled are needed to ensure the clear interpretation or strengthening of the act and to ensure the ongoing care and protection of children and young people in the territory.
The Children and Young People Amendment Bill 2010 proposes minor amendments to the four sections of the Children and Young People Act 2008. In summary, these are: an amendment replacing the mandatory reporting obligations upon those registered to provide home schooling with an obligation upon those persons authorised under the Education Act 2004 to inspect home schooling arrangements; an amendment clarifying the timely provision of annual review reports for children and young people on reviewable care and protection orders; and an amendment requiring the courts to apply the same criteria regarding the release of sensitive information to
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