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Family → Urgent orders → Child orders
Overview — Child orders
Justin Dowd, Partner, Watts McCray
Introduction
A parent may sometimes make a unilateral decision to relocate themselves and a child without the consent of the other parent or without making their destination known. In these circumstances, especially where there is a serious risk of harm to the child, urgent orders may be sought.
The court has the power to make urgent orders (including granting an injunction) it considers proper for the welfare of the child including an injunction for the personal protection of a child and/or an injunction for the personal protection of a parent of the child (or anyone the child lives with pursuant to a court order or any person who has parental responsibility for a child). See s 68B Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) and s 235 Family Court Act 1997 (WA).
Airport watch list orders and Federal Police alerts
If it is feared that the child may be taken from Australia, then an urgent application should be made that the child's name be included on the airport watch list and in Federal Police alerts. The Family Court of Australia has an afterhours service which hears emergency applications and grants orders in urgent circumstances. Urgent orders will only be made where the court is satisfied that there is an immediate risk or a need for immediate action. The Family Court's emergency service can be contacted on: 1300 352 000.
See Airport watch list and Federal Police alerts.
Location and recovery of children
Where a child has been wrongfully removed from the care of a person, that person may make an application for a recovery order, authorising Federal, State and Territory police to recover and return the child to a person specified in the order.
Where a child has been wrongfully removed from the care of a person and that person does not know the location to which the child has been removed, then that person may apply for a location order requiring a person or a Commonwealth entity (eg, Centrelink or the Child Support Agency care of Department of Human Services) to provide the court with information regarding the child's location. Such an order would be made in circumstances where the third person or the Commonwealth entity is likely to have information, or to receive information in the future, which would provide the location of the child.
See Location and recovery of children.
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