The Parental Support and Responsibility Act 2008 (Act No. 014 of 2008) provided for responsible parenting agreements and responsible parenting orders, and acknowledged and supported the primary role of parents in safeguarding and promoting the wellbeing of children. The Act made consequential amendments to the Children's Court of Western Australia Act 1988 and the Young Offenders Act 1994. This Act was repealed by the Children and Community Services Legislation Amendment and Repeal Act 2015 on 1 January 2016.
The Parental Support and Responsibility Act 2008 came into operation on 28 March 2009. It enabled responsible parenting agreements and responsible parenting orders to be issued. It also amended the Children's Court of Western Australia Act 1988 and the Young Offenders Act 1994 to assist this process.
The objects of the Act are outlined in Part 2, section 5 of the Act:
(1) The objects of this Act are -
(a) to acknowledge and support the primary role of parents in safeguarding and promoting the wellbeing of children; and
(b) to support and reinforce the role and responsibility of parents to exercise appropriate control over the behaviour of their children.(2) For the purposes of this section,
responsibility
includes but is not limited to all the duties, powers, responsibilities and
authority which, by law, parents have in relation to children.
The Act (Part 3) also facilitates information-sharing among and between government and service agencies who have been appointed to work with families under a responsible parenting agreement (Part 4, which parents voluntarily enter into) or a responsible parenting order (Part 5, which is imposed by the Children's Court of Western Australia). All actions taken under the Act are expected to be in best interests of the child (Part 2, section 6).
Sources used to compile this entry: Parental Support and Responsibiltity Act 2008; Parental Support and Responsibility Regulations 2009; Parental Support and Responsibility (Disclosure of Information) Guidelines 2009: Explanatory Materials, 2009, https://web.archive.org/web/20150326194659/http://www.dcp.wa.gov.au/Organisation/Documents/ParentalSupportandResponsibilityAct2008ExplanatoryMaterials.pdf; Law Research Service, Melbourne Law School, Law Library, The University of Melbourne. 'Find and Connect Project - Western Australia Legislation', 13 December 2013, held in the project files at the University of Melbourne eScholarship Research Centre.
Prepared by: Debra Rosser
Created: 27 June 2011, Last modified: 14 December 2018