Children’s Court of NSW Resource Handbook

The Children’s Court of NSW is a unique court which has specialised practice and procedure with regard to children and young people in its criminal and care and protection jurisdictions. Designed primarily to be of use to new Children’s Court magistrates as part of their induction in the field, the Judicial Commission’s Children's Court of NSW Resource Handbook contains important material for both criminal and care and protection matters.

Charts and practical information prepared by experienced magistrates can be found in both the “Background material” or “Practice and procedure” chapters for either type of matter, along with useful articles about issues that affect children and their development, including material from the Director of the Children’s Court Clinic.

Links to other sources of information are also available including the Judicial Commission’s Local Court Bench Book, the Sentencing Bench Book, practice notes from lawlink, legislation and cases on the Judicial Information Research System (JIRS), and the Children’s Law News. Succinct catchwords to jog the memory as to the relevance of each piece of legislation or case have also been added. The Resource Handbook is directed towards magistrates of the Children’s Court to assist them in the conduct of proceedings in the care and protection and criminal jurisdictions; clinicians who prepare assessments for the Children’s Court; and other judicial officers and lawyers who work in this jurisdiction.