The children's court and child protection: The primacy of the socio-legal response to child abuse

Abstract

Solutions to family and child welfare problems are increasingly sought from the courts. The Children's Court in particular is increasingly asked to decide child care and parenting issues and to decide when the state has a claim in these matters. Child protection workers are also increasingly turning to the courts to confirm welfare concerns and justify their involvement in a family's life. Magistrates therefore have a significant role in child protection. The decisions they make have consequences not only for the child, the family, and the community but also for protective workers, as it is the magistrate's decision that directs the work of protective services, yet how magistrates make these decisions is largely unknown. The paper reports on a study of magistrate decision-making, undertaken during 1993-95 in the Family Division of the Melbourne Children's Court, Victoria, to discover what factors influenced magistrates in decision-making in child protection matters.