New South Wales Consolidated Acts

CHILDREN AND YOUNG PERSONS (CARE AND PROTECTION) ACT 1998 - SECT 116

116 Application for order for alternative parenting plan

(1) If the differences between a child or young person and his or her parents are so serious that it is no longer possible for the child or young person to continue living with his or her parents, the child or young person, a parent or the parents, or the Secretary may make an application to the Children's Court for an order approving an alternative parenting plan.

(2) An application is to be accompanied by an alternative parenting plan.

(3) The Children's Court must not make an order unless it is satisfied that the parents and the child or young person have been advised of the desirability of seeking legal advice concerning any proposed changes to the allocation of parental responsibility and--

(a) that all appropriate steps that could be taken to resolve the matter have been taken and that all other appropriate forms of dispute resolution have been exhausted, or

(b) that no useful purpose would be served in taking those steps or other forms of dispute resolution.

(4) Subject to any order the Children's Court may make, a person who makes an application under this section must notify the other persons referred to in subsection (1) of the making of the application.

Note : Section 256A sets out the circumstances in which the Children's Court may dispense with the requirement to give notice.