University of Technology, Sydney

Staff directory | Webmail | Maps | Newsroom | What's on

78128 Child Law in Australia

Warning: The information on this page is indicative. The subject outline for a particular session, location and mode of offering is the authoritative source of all information about the subject for that offering. Required texts, recommended texts and references in particular are likely to change. Students will be provided with a subject outline once they enrol in the subject.

Subject handbook information prior to 2017 is available in the Archives.

UTS: Law
Credit points: 8 cp
Result type: Grade and marks

Requisite(s): (78100c Postgraduate Legal Research AND 78136 Dispute Resolution) OR ((102 credit points of completed study in spk(s): C04236 Juris Doctor OR 102 credit points of completed study in spk(s): C04250 Juris Doctor Master of Business Administration) AND 78136 Dispute Resolution)
The lower case 'c' after the subject code indicates that the subject is a corequisite. See definitions for details.
There are course requisites for this subject. See access conditions.
Anti-requisite(s): 76066 Children and the Law AND 78129 Child Law in Australia

Description

This subject enhances and builds upon law studies as they relate to children; in particular, constitutional law, criminal law, contracts, torts and the law of evidence. The subject includes issues ranging from children's rights, child development theory, care and protection (including fostering), preschool and school education, civil liability, juvenile justice, legal representation, access to medical treatment and procedures. The present law in New South Wales is considered as well as the historical development of laws relating to children, proposed reforms and comparative material from other jurisdictions. The subject combines both a theoretical and a vocational approach to the study of these issues and is not only of benefit to students interested in these issues, but also to those students considering a career, or enhancing their career, in legal practice and/or the delivery of children's legal services.

Subject learning objectives (SLOs)

Upon successful completion of this subject students should be able to:

1. identify, describe, evaluate, and apply the principles of law and procedure applicable to children and young people;
2. engage in independent thinking, discussion, and critical analyses of the laws, policies and practices applicable to children and young people in a culturally diverse and increasingly globalised context ;
3. demonstrate creative, strategic, and ethical thinking and practice in child law;
4. demonstrate skills in updating knowledge and understanding of the ebbs and flows in children???s law and practice;
5. apply the principles of law and the provisions of international human rights instruments to research questions and problems to construct and develop solutions designed to resolve problems and disputes relating to children and young people.

Teaching and learning strategies

Strategy 1 Interactive and stimulating class discussions informed by careful reading and consideration of the issues.
Strategy 2 Guest speakers from the profession with significant experience in the practice of children’s law to engender a deeper understanding of the ethical and other dilemmas of practicing children’s law
Strategy 3 Independent and group research on selected topics
Strategy 4 Creative exercises designed to develop skills of statutory interpretation, case analysis, independent research and problem solving.

Subject Delivery
The subject will be delivered principally through interactive seminars, use of audio visual material, and presentations by guest speakers. Students will be expected to have read and carefully considered the material set as reading prior to the seminars, and to participate in class discussions drawing from the insights learned from the assigned material.

Content (topics)

  1. Children, Young People and Australian Law
  2. Children’s Rights
  3. Child Protection
  4. Criminal Responsibility and Juvenile Justice
  5. Children in Court and Representation of Children
  6. Students will be asked to choose one from the following additional topics in the first class of the session:
    • Education
    • Migration, Refugees and Citizenship
    • Children and Family Law
    • Civil Liability
    • Parentage, Surrogacy, Adoption Medical Treatment of Children
    • Health, Housing and Social Security
    • Wills and Estates
    • Privacy

Assessment

Assessment task 1: Class Participation

Weight: 20%

Assessment task 2: Law Reform Submission

Weight: 30%

Assessment task 3: Research Essay

Weight: 50%

Required texts

Geoff Monahan and Lisa Young (eds), Children and the law in Australia, Butterworths, Australia, 2008

Recommended texts

  1. Geoff Monahan and Lisa Young, Family Law in Australia, 6th edition, Butterworths, Australia, 2006
  2. Chris Cunneen and Rob White, Juvenile Justice: Youth and Crime in Australia, 3rd edition, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 2007
  3. Allan Borowski and Ian O’Connor (eds), Juvenile Crime, Justice and Corrections, Longman Publishing, Melbourne,1997

Other resources

Reports

  • Australian Law Reform Commission and Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, Seen and Heard: priority for children in the legal process, ALRC Report No. 84, AGPS, Canberra, 1997
  • Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, Bringing them home: Report of the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Their Families, Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra, 1997
  • National Children’s and Youth Law Centre and Defence for Children International, Submission to the Human Rights Committee concerning Australia’s third and fourth periodic reports under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 2000, available at http://www.dci-au.org/html/iccpr.html
  • National Children’s and Youth Law Centre and Defence for Children International (Australia), The Non-Government Report on the Implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child in Australia, May 2005, NCYLC and DCI-A, available at http://www.ncylc.org.au/croc/consultpaper.html
  • Australian Law Reform Commission, Australian Privacy Law and Practice, Report No. 108, May 2008, Chapter 3, Part I – ‘Children, Young People and Adults Requiring Assistance’
  • NSW Law Reform Commission, Young Offenders, Report 104, December 2005 (published December 2007)
  • NSW Law Reform Commission, Review of the Adoption of Children Act 1965 (NSW), Report 81, 1997
  • NSW Law Reform Commission, Issues Paper 24, Minors’ Consent to Medical Treatment, 2004, available at: http://www.lawlink.nsw.gov.au/lrc.nsf/pages/ip24toc
  • Aboriginal Justice Advisory Council, A Fraction More Power: Evaluation of the Impact of the Children (Protection and Parental Responsibility) Act on Aboriginal People in Moree and Ballina, AJAC Research and Evaluation Series No. 1, Sydney, October 1999
  • Government of Australia, Combined Second and Third Reports under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, 2003. Available at http://www. ag. gov. au/ www/ agd/ agd. nsf/ Page/ Publications _Australias combined Secondand Third Reports underthe Convention onthe Rights ofthe Child -March 2003
  • Reba Meagher, Discussion Paper: Statutory Child Protection in NSW: Issues and Options for Reform, 2006, available at http://www.community.nsw.gov.au/documents/act_discussion.pdf
  • Special Commission of Inquiry into Child Protection Services in New South Wales (the Wood Report) , 2008, available at http://www. dpc. nsw. gov. au/ publications/ news/ stories/ special _commission _of _inquiry _into _child _protection _services _in _new _south _wales
  • Australian Institute of Health and Welfare Child Welfare Series Number 45, Child protection Australia 2007–08, Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Canberra, available at http://www.aihw.gov.au/publications/cws/cpa07-08/cpa07-08.pdf
  • Judy Cashmore and Marina Paxman, Family Decision Making, A Pilot Project by Burnside and DoCS, Making Decisions Together, Evaluation Report, Burnside, Sydney, September 1999

Selected Journals

  • (1996) 2(2) Australian Journal of Human Rights – special issue on children’s rights
  • Australian Children’s Rights News http://www.dci-au.org/html/acrn.html
  • International Journal of Children’s Rights
  • International Children’s Rights Monitor
  • International Journal of Law Policy and the Family
  • (2008) 12 Australian Indigenous Law Review, Special Edition, based on papers presented at the conference, Ten Years Later: Bringing Them Home and the Forced Removal of Children, Customs House, Sydney, 28 September 2007

Selected General References

  • Lode Walgrave (ed), Restorative Justice and the Law, Willan Publishing, Devon, 2002
  • Christine Alder and Joy Wundersitz (eds), Family Conferencing and Juvenile Justice: The Way Forward or Misplaced Optimism? Australian Institute of Criminology, Canberra, 1994
  • David Archard, Children, Rights and Childhood, Routledge, London, 1993
  • Michael King and Christine Piper, How the Law Thinks about Children, Gower, Aldershot, 1990
  • Melinda Jones and Lee Ann Basser, Children on the Agenda: the rights of Australia’s children, Prospect Media, Sydney, 2001
  • Kathleen funder (ed), Citizen Child: Australian Law and Children’s Rights, Australian Institute of Family Studies, Melbourne, 1996
  • Janet Chan (ed), Reshaping Juvenile Justice: The NSW Young Offenders Act 1997, Sydney Institute of Criminology, Sydney, 2005
  • Mary Crock, Seeking Asylum Alone – Australia: A study of Australian law, policy and practice regarding unaccompanied and separated children, Themis Press, Sydney, 2006

Websites