Before your child comes into care

Seek legal advice

If you haven't already spoken to a lawyer, now is a good time to do so. Remember, you can work together with the caseworker while also getting independent advice and support from a lawyer. Independent lawyers can explain your options and how the law works, represent you or give you advice about alternative dispute resolution (sometimes called ADR, or known as a Family Group Conference or FGC).

You can ask the caseworker to make a referral to legal support for you. The caseworker can help you to get in contact with a lawyer, but if they are really worried about your child, they can’t delay a safety assessment while you wait for legal advice.

Find Legal and other support and advocacy services here.

Alternative dispute resolution

If there are no immediate safety concerns for your child, but DCJ is still worried about your child, the caseworker should talk to you about whether you would like alternative dispute resolution (ADR) before a decision is made to remove your child. The ADR process means that your family talks with DCJ at a meeting run by someone independent who does not work for DCJ. This can help families tell DCJ what they think.

An ADR can also be a useful meeting in other ways when you are working with DCJ, such as to help with family action planning, or when decisions need to be made for your child.

Family Group Conferences

One type of ADR is called a Family Group Conference (FGC). A FGC brings your family and other support people together to hear about the worries for your child and to make a plan for your child. You get to decide who comes. An independent person called a facilitator leads the conference. The meeting is a chance for important people in your child’s life to be part of decisions about them. It can also help build on the good things about your family and be used to get extra help from family and community. Where appropriate, your child may also attend the FGC and this is an important opportunity for them to share their worries and what they would like to see happen.

A FGC might mean that together you create a plan to keep your child safe, so they do not need to come into care. If your child still needs to come into care, an FGC could help add to a Family Action Plan for Change so your child can come home when it is safe.

The caseworker will explain why the conference could help your family. If you agree to an FGC, the caseworker will make a referral and the facilitator will call you. The facilitator will organise the conference and develop a Family Plan with you. This plan is the one you and your family develop. The Caseworker will update the Family Action Plan for Change afterwards to include tasks agreed to in the Family Plan developed at the FGC. The facilitators are independent and do not make any decisions about your child or family. You can ask for a facilitator from your cultural background.

If during your time working with DCJ you think an FGC might help, speak with the caseworker about it.