ABSTRACT
In this chapter, we will discuss interactions between care-experienced young people in NSW and the Children’s Court. We will first examine the extent of care-experienced children’s contact with the criminal justice system and specifically the Children’s Court. Second, we will investigate the court experience itself, based on the perceptions of our interview respondents as well as our own observations. Third, we will focus on two aspects of the court process that have potentially serious ramifications for care-experienced children: bail, and the treatment of young people with mental health problems. In particular, we will focus on the operation of section 28 of the Bail Act 2013 (NSW), which allows the court to impose an accommodation requirement if the person being granted bail is a child; and of sections 32 and 33 of the Mental Health (Forensic Provisions) Act 1990 (NSW). Both pieces of legislation aim to address problems common to care-experienced children. Overall, we aim to inform the future practices of judicial officers and other stakeholders, to address the over-representation and criminalisation of the care-experienced children who come before the Children’s Court.
