Office of the Public AdvocateIn Australia, and internationally, the family is recognised as the best environment for raising children wherever possible. However, where a parent has a disability, particularly cognitive disability or mental illness, children are removed from their family at a rate many times greater than where parents do not have a disability.
A perceived dichotomy between the interests of children and their parents has most likely been built on erroneous assumptions about inherent parental incapacity, the lack of appropriate family supports, predictions of the likelihood of future harm to children in a risk-averse society and the priority given within the system to stability for children, thought to be found in permanent care.
The Public Advocate has been concerned that the guardianship rights and responsibilities of parents when their child is under a Custody to the Secretary Order (CTSO) were not being respected and that the DHHS processes for a parent providing informed medical consent did not meet the established legal standards. The Public Advocate is alarmed that, rather than addressing this issue, amendments to the legislation have now removed guardianship authority from parents when their children are in out-of-home care under a protective order.
The Public Advocate also considers that insufficient attention may be given to the importance of family love and family and community connection in deciding whether it is in a child’s best interests to be removed from their family and too little consideration given to the ongoing trauma, fear and grief for both parents and children when families are separated.
