Going to the Children's Court: a guide for parents

Last checked: 31 October 2026

The short answer

If Child Protection files a protection application, the Children's Court Family Division decides what happens to your child. Parents are automatically parties, so you have a right to be heard. A free duty lawyer can help on the first day and help you apply for legal aid. Go to every hearing, follow every condition, and keep proof of what you are doing.

Key dates and time limits

• If your child was placed in emergency care, the court must hear the case within one working day.
• Be at court, or ready online, by 9.30 am unless you were given another time.
• An interim accommodation order placing your child away from you is usually made for up to 21 days at a time, then back to court.

Step by step

1. 1

   Before the first hearing

   Check the court date and place on the papers Child Protection gave you. If you do not have them, call the Children's Court near where your child lives and give your child's name. Gather all papers from Child Protection, your notes of contact, proof of things you have done to address the worries, and any family law or intervention orders. Ask for an interpreter if you need one, it is free.

2. 2

   The first day at court

   Hearings may be in person or online. Ask for the duty lawyer when you arrive, or they will call you if it is online. Be ready to stay all day. Child Protection's lawyer tells the magistrate why they think your child needs protection, and your lawyer and your child's lawyer can respond. If you have no lawyer, you can speak to the magistrate yourself and call them 'Your Honour'.

3. 3

   Interim accommodation orders

   Most cases do not finish on the first day. The magistrate can make an interim accommodation order that says where your child lives until the next date, and may add conditions, such as drug tests or contact arrangements. You are entitled to know where your child is staying unless the court says otherwise. Follow every condition, as Child Protection reports on this at each hearing.

4. 4

   The conciliation conference

   The court can send the case to a conciliation conference, a meeting with an independent convenor, to try to agree on what is best for your child. Parents and Child Protection attend, and your lawyer can come. It can be held online. What is said there cannot usually be used in court without the court's permission or everyone's agreement.

5. 5

   Contested hearing, if you cannot agree

   If there is no agreement, the case goes to a contested hearing where the magistrate hears the evidence and decides. The court first decides whether your child needs protection. Then it decides which order to make.

6. 6

   The orders the court can make

   The protection orders are: an undertaking order, a family preservation order (your child lives with you under supervision, usually up to 12 months), a family reunification order (your child lives elsewhere while you work towards their return, up to 24 months, with time limits that changed on 12 May 2026), a care by Secretary order (2 years), and a long-term care order (until 18). A permanent care order gives parental responsibility to another carer until your child turns 18 or marries.

7. 7

   Your child's own lawyer

   A child aged 10 or over usually has their own lawyer who acts on what the child wants. Younger children may have a lawyer who acts in their best interests, in exceptional cases. That lawyer does not act for you. For Aboriginal families, the Marram-Ngala Ganbu Koori Family Hearing Day sits at Broadmeadows Children's Court, and the Aboriginal Child Placement Principle applies in every case.

Who can help

Forms and the law