Children's Participation in Care and Protection Matters

Author & Speaker

Sandra Porteous and Kate Ridley

Organisation

Department of Child, Youth and Family Services, National Office

This paper will look at children's participation in care and protection matters with reference to children's rights under the Children, Young Persons and their Families Act 1989. The paper will also look briefly at other legislative provisions under the Care of Children Act 2004 and the Adoption Act 1955 and at overseas jurisdictions in particular NSW, Australia to provide a comparison of how children's voices are heard in care and protection matters and court proceedings.

The paper is intended to have a practical basis covering the following areas:

What is participation?
Why is participation important?
What do children and young people say about being in care?
What do children and young people say about being able to take part in decision making?
Overview of New Zealand's legislative provisions.
Relevant international conventions, in particular UNCROC.
How are children and young people's voices heard through New Zealand legislation in comparison with some Australian jurisdiction?
"Harry's Story" - a look at Harry Potter as a child in care.
Facilitating participation in the care and protection context.

How can meaningful participation be achieved.
Other's roles.
Questions for practice

Presentation

Paper

Biographies

Sandra Porteous is a Legal Advisor at National Office, Department of Child, Youth and Family Services and has a longstanding interest in legal issues concerning children and young people in particular participation. She is a member of the Children's Issues Committee of the Family Law Section of the New Zealand Law Society. She was a past co-convener of the Children and Young Persons Committee of the Auckland District Society and member of the Family Law Committee. In the early 1990's Sandra was a convener of the Youth Law management committee. Sandra has a Post Graduate Diploma in Children's Advocacy from the University of Otago and is currently studying at Victoria for her LLM.

Kate Ridley is a Senior Advisor at National Office, Department of Child, Youth and Family with an extensive background in a variety of social work positions. She has an interest in children's rights and in particular in child protection and the media. Kate is completing her Post Graduate Diploma in Children's Advocacy from the University of Otago .