New South Wales Consolidated Acts

CHILDREN AND YOUNG PERSONS (CARE AND PROTECTION) ACT 1998 - SECT 39A

39A Care responsibility on death of guardian or carer with full parental responsibility

(1) On the Secretary becoming aware of the death of a relevant guardian or carer of a child or young person, the care responsibility for the child or young person vests in the Secretary until--

(a) the expiry of 21 days after the day on which the Secretary first became aware of the death, or

(b) an order is made by a court of competent jurisdiction, that allocates parental responsibility for the child or young person,

whichever occurs first.

(2) Without limiting any other action the Secretary may take under this Act, the Secretary is, while having the care responsibility for the child or young person, to make any investigations and assessment that the Secretary considers necessary to determine the most appropriate care arrangements for the child or young person.

(3) The Secretary may delegate the Secretary's care responsibility for the child or young person to a relative or kin of the child or young person, an authorised carer or a person approved by the Children's Guardian.

(4) Despite subsection (3), the Secretary may delegate the Secretary's care responsibility for the child or young person on an interim basis to a person other than a person specified in subsection (3) but must use his or her best endeavours to delegate that responsibility to a person so specified as soon as is reasonably practicable.

(5) The exercise of the care responsibility by a person to whom it is delegated under this section is subject to any direction given to the person by the Secretary.

(6) In this section--

"relevant guardian or carer" of a child or young person means--

(a) a person who was the sole guardian or (in the case of a guardianship order allocating parental responsibility jointly to more than one person) the surviving guardian, of the child or young person, immediately before the death of the person, or

(b) a person who held, solely, all aspects of parental responsibility for the child or young person pursuant to an order under section 79(1)(f) or (in the case of an order allocating parental responsibility jointly to more than one person) the surviving person who held that parental responsibility, immediately before the death of the person.