ABSTRACT

The way magistrates describe child protection decision-making in this book suggests it is not simply legal decision-making but is also social and psychological decision-making and therefore more amenable to a less adversarial approach. The specialist nature of the Children’s Court jurisdiction presents magistrates with particular difficulties, a number of which have already been noted. For example, the gathering, presentation and testing of evidence to support or negate a case and the rules that govern this, are central to the adversarial system and do not easily accommodate welfare issues.