Children and Young People Act 1999, courtesy of AustLII: Australasian Legal Information Institute.
Details
The Children and Young People Act 1999 (Act no. 63/1999) was said to be 'implemented with the best interests of the child or young person as the paramount consideration for decisions made'. This Act formally recognised the Aboriginal Child Placement Principle. Sections 1 and 2 commenced on 10 of November 1999, the remainder on 10 May 2000. It was repealed by the Children and Young People Act 2008 on 27 February 2009.
The 1999 Act outlines the responsibilities of parents and government in nurturing and providing care to allow children to grow in a safe environment, and their right to be protected from neglect and abuse.
Across the Act the concept of 'parental responsibility' is introduced to replace traditional notions of custody, guardianship and wardship in line with developments in other jurisdictions.
The Act introduced a new concept of voluntary 'family group conferencing' in order to facilitate greater family involvement in decision making around alternative ways to care for children and young people.
It also recognised that when it was considered necessary for the state to intervene in the life of a child or young person, the procedures and effects of such intervention should be clear to those impacted at all stages.
Amended by Act No.11 2000, Act No.23 2001, Act No.65 2001, Act No.33 2005, Act No.6 2006, Act No.52 2006, Act No.4 2007, Act No.20 2008
1935 - 1941 Juvenile Offenders (Detention) Ordinance 1935
1940 - 1958 Juvenile Offenders (Probation) Ordinance 1940
1941 - 1958 Juvenile Offenders Ordinance 1941
1941 - 1987 Child Welfare Agreement Ordinance 1941
1958 - 1988 Child Welfare Ordinance 1957
1987 - 2000 Children's Services Act 1986
1999 - 2009 Children and Young People Act 1999
2008 - Children and Young People Act 2008
Sources used to compile this entry: 'Children and Young People ACT 1999, Bill and Explanatory Statement', ACT Government, 1999, http://www.legislation.act.gov.au/a/1999-63/default.asp; Law Research Service, Melbourne Law School, Law Library, The University of Melbourne. 'Find and Connect Project - Northern Territory Legislation', 1 February 2013, held in the project files at the University of Melbourne eScholarship Research Centre.
Prepared by: Lydia Connell and Christine Moje
Created: 24 May 2011, Last modified: 21 October 2014
Last updated: 4 August 2023
Cite this: https://www.findandconnect.gov.au/ref/act/biogs/AE00025b.htm
First published by the Find & Connect Web Resource Project for the Commonwealth of Australia, 2011
Except where otherwise noted, content on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License