This Practice Direction applies to applications for parenting orders filed in the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia in relation to a child born under a surrogacy arrangement, whether such arrangement is recognised under the laws of a State of Australia or otherwise. It does not apply to surrogacy proceedings where final parenting orders under Part VII of the Family Law Act 1975 have already been made in relation to the child.
This Practice Direction sets out the procedure for all family law proceedings seeking parenting orders or any other order under Part VII of the Family Law Act 1975, save and except for surrogacy proceedings, passport proceedings, medical procedure proceedings or child maintenance proceedings.
An Independent Children’s Lawyer (ICL) represents a child’s best interests.
The Court can appoint an ICL under section 68L of the Family Law Act 1975, or on the application of a child, an organisation concerned with the welfare of children, or any other person, to represent and promote the best interests of a child in family law proceedings.
An ICL is usually appointed by the Court upon application by one of the parties where one or more of the following circumstances exist:
ICLs are obliged to consider the views of the child, but ultimately provide their own, independent, perspective about what arrangements or decisions are in the child’s best interests.
Their main roles include:
National Legal Aid has published a set of Guidelines for Independent Children’s Lawyers about what an ICL should do to fulfil their role and responsibilities, and how they should represent and promote the best interests of a child in family law proceedings. The Guidelines are endorsed by the Court and provide useful guidance on all aspects of the role of the ICL.
The ICL has numerous options when determining what is in a child’s best interest. The ICL must meet with the child and provide the child with an opportunity to express any views in relation to the matters to which the proceedings relate, unless:
The ICL may also:
It’s important to realise that although in many situations the ICL is funded under a Legal Aid scheme established under Commonwealth, State or Territory laws, it’s not a “free” service. From a court’s perspective, an ICL is presumed to be unfunded (unless privately funded) and the courts are generally inclined to order parties to contribute to the ICL’s costs.
You can check with the Legal Aid commission in your state or territory about how the costs of an ICL will be paid.
More information about ICLs and their role in parenting proceedings is available on the ICL website.
Legal Aid NSW also has a helpful video explaining the ICL’s role to parents on the Best for Kids website.
The ICL website provides age appropriate brochures that explain the role of the ICL for children. The Best for Kids website also has a helpful video about ICLs for kids.
Practice directions are procedural guidelines issued by the Court. They complement legislation, rules and regulations. They provide specific direction about the practice and procedure that must be followed in certain types of proceedings.
Practice directions are issued by the Chief Justice/Chief Judge upon advice of judges of the Court, pursuant to the Court’s inherent power to control its own processes, as well as the power under the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia Act 2021 for the Court to give directions about the practice and procedure to be followed in a proceeding.
In general, practice directions are issued to:
Below are links to the practice directions that apply to this area of law:
When a parenting or other child-related order is made, each person affected by the order must comply with (follow) the order.
You must do everything the order says. This includes taking all reasonable steps to ensure that the terms of the order take effect.
You must also positively encourage your child (or children) to comply with the orders. For example, where the order states your child is to spend time with another party, you must not only ensure that the child is available, but must also positively encourage them to do so, even if the child says they do not wish to. There are agencies in the community that can help you and your family adjust to and comply with the order. See Get help.
The order remains in force until a new parenting order or parenting plan changes it in some way.
Even if the needs or circumstances of you, the child or the other party change, the court order applies until it is formally changed by a court or, in some situations, you enter into a parenting plan with the other party. Sometimes people talk to each other about changing arrangements set out in a parenting order. It is important to note that these conversations, even if you and the other party agree, will not change the order. For more information, see Changing parenting arrangements.
TIP: A parenting plan is different from a parenting order. A parenting order is made by a court. A parenting plan is a written agreement that sets out parenting arrangements for children. It is not legally enforceable, although its contents can override part of a court order, so that part of the court order is no longer enforceable. Before entering into a parenting plan, you should seek legal advice.
A person to whom the order applies contravenes (breaches) an order, which has not been altered by a parenting plan, if they:
A person who is not a person to whom the order applies (and the person is not a child) contravenes an order if they:
intentionally prevents compliance with the order by a person to whom the order applies, or aids or abets a contravention of the order by a person to whom the order applies.
When a parenting or other child-related order is made, each person affected by the order must comply with the order. This includes taking all reasonable steps to comply with the order.
For example, if a parenting order specifies that your child is to live with you and spend certain time with the other parent, you have an obligation to make sure that your child actually spends that time with the other parent, even if the child says that they do not want to spend time with the other parent.
If a court decides a person has failed to comply with an order, it will consider whether the person had a reasonable excuse for contravening the order. Some examples of reasonable excuses that may satisfy a court include:
If you allege that another person has contravened an order without a reasonable excuse, you can:
Family dispute resolution can help you and the other party work through your disagreement, or any misunderstandings about the orders. Resolving issues this way is less formal than going to court, and should cost less in money, time and emotion.
Before you apply to the Court in relation to an alleged contravention, you usually have to participate in FDR, unless an exemption applies.
Except in limited circumstances, the Family Law Act 1975 requires you to obtain a certificate from a registered FDR practitioner before you file an application for an order in relation to a child under Part VII of the Family Law Act 1975, including in relation to an alleged contravention of a parenting order.
For further details about compulsory FDR and exemptions, read the fact sheet Compulsory pre-filing family dispute resolution – Court procedures and requirements.
You can file an Application – Contravention if you:
For more information about recovery orders, see Recovery orders.
A National Contravention List has been established to deal with all contravention applications filed in the Court. Please refer to the Family Law Practice Direction – National Contravention List for further information about what documents to file with the Application – Contravention and details about the National Contravention List.
For more information and a step-by-step guide about applying to the Court in relation to an alleged contravention see How do I apply to the court when parenting orders have been breached or not complied with?
IMPORTANT NOTE: Contravention proceedings are ‘quasi-criminal’ proceedings. This means that they are similar to criminal proceedings, so if the Court finds that the allegations you make are proven, there may be serious penalties for the person who contravened the parenting order. Each alleged contravention in an Application – Contravention is similar to a criminal charge.
Because of this seriousness, the Court requires strict compliance with the applicable rules, which are found in Division 11.2.1 of the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (Family Law) Rules 2021. If you do not comply with these rules, your Application – Contravention may not be accepted for filing.
If you have been served with an Application – Contravention which alleges that you have contravened a parenting or other child-related order, you should seek legal advice as soon as possible.
Contravention proceedings are ‘quasi-criminal’ proceedings. This means that they are similar to criminal proceedings, so if the Court finds that the allegations against you are proven, it may impose penalties on you, including a fine, a bond, or imprisonment.
Yes. You, or your lawyer, must file a Notice of address for service.
You do not have to file any other document, however you may file an Affidavit – Family law and child support.
Due to the serious consequences you may face if the Court finds that you have contravened a parenting or other child-related order, you should seek legal advice before you decide whether or not to file an Affidavit – Family law and child support.
Yes. You must attend court for each hearing in the contravention proceedings, or be represented at each hearing by a lawyer. If you fail to do so, the Court may, amongst other things, determine the Application – Contravention without you, or issue a warrant for your arrest (see rule 11.68 of the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (Family Law) Rules 2021).
You will be notified of the date, time and place of the first hearing by the Court when your Application – Contravention is accepted for filing.
‘Standard of proof’ means how certain the Court needs to be to find that an alleged fact is true. The standard of proof which applies to a contravention depends on the order the Court is being asked to make (see section 70NAE of the Family Law Act 1975).
In most cases, the standard of proof is the ‘balance of probabilities’. This means that the Court can find a fact proved if the fact is more likely to exist than not.
The Court may only impose the most serious penalties – a prison sentence or a fine – if the allegations are established ‘beyond reasonable doubt’. This is the same standard of proof required in criminal matters.
The party who has the ‘burden of proof’ is the party who is required to prove an allegation. The applicant bears the burden of proving each alleged contravention.
If the respondent alleges that they had a reasonable excuse for a contravention, the respondent bears the burden of proving the existence of that reasonable excuse.
A court can only penalise someone for failing to comply with a parenting or child-related order, which has not been altered by a parenting plan, if another person files an application alleging the person did not comply with the order.
After considering all the facts of the case and applying the law, the Court may decide:
The Court does not need to find that you contravened a parenting or other child-related order to make certain orders, including an order:
If a court finds that you have failed to comply with a parenting or other child-related order without reasonable excuse, it may impose a penalty. Depending on the particulars of the case and the type of contravention, the Court may make any of the above orders, or:
In addition to these orders, a court may also adjourn the case to allow you or the other party to apply for a further parenting order.
The penalties are listed in Division 13A of Part VII of the Family Law Act 1975.
For a summary of the information on this page, see the following fact sheets:
You are not required to be represented by a lawyer, or to seek legal advice, before applying to the Court, or if you have been served with an application. However, family law is complex, and getting legal advice will help you to better understand your rights and responsibilities.
Noting that the Court may impose serious penalties if court orders are not complied with, you should seek legal advice before you file an Application – Contravention.
For information on how to get legal advice, see Legal Help.
Practice directions are procedural guidelines issued by the Court. They complement legislation, rules and regulations. They provide specific direction about the practice and procedure that must be followed in certain types of proceedings.
Practice directions are issued by the Chief Justice/Chief Judge upon advice of judges of the Court, pursuant to the Court’s inherent power to control its own processes, as well as the power under the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia Act 2021 for the Court to give directions about the practice and procedure to be followed in a proceeding.
In general, practice directions are issued to:
Below are links to the practice directions that apply to this area of law:
How, and whether, you can change your parenting arrangements depends on what kind of arrangements you have.
Before you read the rest of this page, it is important that you understand whether you have a parenting order, parenting plan, or informal arrangement.
If you want a change to your parenting arrangements, the first thing to do (as long as it is safe to do so, and as long as it does not breach a family violence order) is to contact the other party (or parties) to raise what you want to change, and to see if they will agree.
If you, and/or the other party, have a lawyer, you could choose to communicate through lawyers.
If you and the other party have communicated about proposed changes to your parenting arrangements, and want help to try to reach agreement, you can attend Family dispute resolution counselling.
To seek a change to existing parenting orders in court, you will need to show that there has been a significant change of circumstances that makes a change necessary.
If you have been approached about the change or are served with an application for the change, you should consider if the change proposed is in the best interests of the child (or children).
If you agree to the changes:
Alternatively you may enter into a parenting plan. For more information, see the section 'If you agree on arrangements' and Parenting plans – Information for parents to consider when making a parenting plan available on the Family Relationships Online website.
If you do not agree and you think that there has been a significant change in circumstances which makes a change necessary, you need to follow the same process as if you were applying to the Court for the first time. See We cannot agree.
If a final parenting order is in force, a Court must not reconsider the final parenting orders unless:
You should consider section 65DAAA if you are seeking to change to parenting orders without the agreement or consent of all parties to the order.
If your existing arrangement is an informal arrangement or a parenting plan, you can read about how to apply for a parenting order (and what you need to do first). See We cannot agree.
Practice directions are procedural guidelines issued by the Court. They complement legislation, rules and regulations. They provide specific direction about the practice and procedure that must be followed in certain types of proceedings.
Practice directions are issued by the Chief Justice/Chief Judge upon advice of judges of the Court, pursuant to the Court’s inherent power to control its own processes, as well as the power under the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia Act 2021 for the Court to give directions about the practice and procedure to be followed in a proceeding.
In general, practice directions are issued to:
Below are links to the practice directions that apply to this area of law:
Grand-parenting is a special relationship. Grandparents can help give their own children and their grandchildren the support they need, especially during and after family separation.
Sometimes, grandparents take on a more permanent caring role for their grandchildren.
There are some valuable resources available to assist with defining your role as a grandparent carer:
When a child cannot live with their parents, someone in the extended family, or a family friend, might become their primary carer. This is called kinship care. Kinship carers do not have set roles as parents do. A child may have come to live with you for a short time, until their parents can care for them. Or you could be raising the child in the long term because the child’s parents cannot do it themselves. The Australian Parenting website Raising Children has a dedicated kinship carers section titled, Grown-ups: grandparents & kinship carers.
You can apply for a parenting order in relation to a child, even if you are not a parent of the child, if you are a grandparent of the child, or you are a person concerned with the care, welfare and development of the child.
For more information and a step-by-step guide, see How do I apply for parenting orders?
The Court has established a Critical Incident List for applications that are filed in circumstances where no parent is available to care for a child or children, as a result of death (including homicide), critical injury or incarceration relating to a family violence incident. This List can be used when orders are sought for parental responsibility so that appropriate arrangements to be made for the child or children, such as engaging with schools or health care providers.
The procedure to apply to the Critical Incident List is set out in Family Law Practice Direction – Critical Incident List.
The Australian Government provides funding to a wide range of agencies and services to provide assistance during family breakdown and when families are separating. The Family Relationship Advice Line is one of these services.
The Family Relationships Advice Line (FRAL):
FRAL also provides a legal advice line which is run by qualified lawyers who can assist with advice and forms. If a client requests legal advice, their name and contact details will be taken and a lawyer will call them back.
What really matters is how a child is parented, not the type of household they live in. If your grandchild still has a secure emotional base, encouragement, routine, protection and the support of a loving parent, his or her needs are probably being met.
A child might want to talk to you about what’s happening, especially if they’re younger. But you might also find that teenagers would benefit from talking to someone other than you. A confidential telephone counselling service for young people such as Kids Helpline (1800 551 800) can help, or try the Kids Helpline website.
You are not required to be represented by a lawyer, or to seek legal advice, before applying to the Court, or if you have been served with an application. However, family law is complex, and getting legal advice will help you to better understand your rights and responsibilities.
For information on how to get legal advice, see Legal Help.
Practice directions are procedural guidelines issued by the Court. They complement legislation, rules and regulations. They provide specific direction about the practice and procedure that must be followed in certain types of proceedings.
Practice directions are issued by the Chief Justice/Chief Judge upon advice of judges of the Court, pursuant to the Court’s inherent power to control its own processes, as well as the power under the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia Act 2021 for the Court to give directions about the practice and procedure to be followed in a proceeding.
In general, practice directions are issued to:
Below are links to the practice directions that apply to this area of law:
Moving with your child (or children) to another town, state or country is known as relocation. If moving is going to impact on the time that your child lives with, or spends with, a parent or another significant person in their lives, a court may not give permission for the child to move. If your child primarily lives with you and you want to relocate, you should first try to talk to the other party.
A relocation will usually mean that the existing parenting arrangements are no longer practicable. For example, travel time between the parents will often mean that it is not practicable for a school-aged child to spend time with the ‘left-behind’ (non-relocating) parent during the school week, or even during the entire school term.
Often, parents reach agreement about a relocation on the basis that the child will spend a lot of time with the left-behind parent during school holidays, to make up for not spending much time during school terms.
In some cases, the other parent may decide to relocate as well, so that they are not left behind.
If you and the other party (or other parties) have agreed to a relocation and related arrangements, you and the other party (or other parties) should formalise your agreement. See We have agreed.
If you and the other party have communicated about a potential relocation, and want help to try to reach agreement, you can attend Family dispute resolution counselling.
For more information about trying to resolve a dispute about children, see Separate smarter.
If you cannot agree, you can ask the Court to make parenting orders, including:
For more information about parenting orders see We cannot agree.
If you relocate your child’s residence without the consent of the other party, and without a court order allowing the relocation (known as ‘unilateral relocation’), a court may require you to return with the child until the case has reached an outcome.
If there is a court order in place, and your unilateral relocation means that the Court order cannot be followed, you will be contravening (breaching) the order. Contravening an order can have serious consequences, including imprisonment in extreme cases, see Compliance and enforcement.
If your child is missing or has not been returned, see Recovery orders.
If a parenting order has been made about a child, or someone has applied for a parenting order about a child, it is a criminal offence to take (remove) or send the child from Australia except if:
Where a child is taken (or sent) outside of Australia in accordance with authenticated written consent or an order, it is an offence to retain the child overseas in any way other than permitted by the consent or order. Examples of this include keeping the child overseas longer than permitted, or taking (or sending) the child to a place other than those places permitted.
The penalty for each of those offences is imprisonment for three years. See sections 65Y, 65YA, 65Z and 65ZAA of the Family Law Act 1975.
‘Authenticated written consent’ means:
See section 51 of the Family Law Regulations 2024.
If you are planning travel overseas with your child, you should, as soon as possible, advise the other parent (or other party to the parenting order or parenting proceedings) of your intention. You should include full details of where you want to go, and confirm that, if you were permitted to go, you would provide a full itinerary, including contact numbers for hotels or relatives, flight numbers, and the like.
Importantly, you need to ask them whether they agree.
If there is a possibility or threat that a child may be removed from Australia, the Court can make orders which:
For more information about what the AFP can do, see the AFP Family Law Watchlist.
You can also seek orders about a child’s passport.
If written consent is provided by all parties with parental responsibility, applications for Australian passports can be lodged at an authorised Australia Post office or any Australian Passport Office.
If written consent is not provided by all parties with parental responsibility, you can make a written request to the Approved Senior Officer of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to consider issuing the passport due to ‘special circumstances’. For more information about requests to consider ‘special circumstances’, contact the Australian Passport Information Service on 13 12 32 or go to www.passports.gov.au.
To apply for a passport of another country for your child, you need to contact a diplomatic mission (such as an embassy, high commission or consulate) of that country.
You can take steps to prevent a passport being issued for a child by:
For more information about child alerts, contact the Australian Passport Information Service on 13 12 32 or go to www.passports.gov.au.
If there is a possibility or threat that a child may be removed from Australia, you can ask the Court to make orders to stop their removal, and also ask for an order requiring the person in possession of the child’s passport to deliver it to the Court. The Court will keep it for the specific amount of time detailed in the court order or until further order of the Court.
If the other parent (or other party to the parenting order or parenting proceedings) agree about travel and/or passports, you can:
If you and the other party have communicated about potential travel and/or passports, and want help to try to reach agreement, you can attend family dispute resolution counselling.
If you cannot agree, you can ask the Court to make parenting orders, including:
If you want to ask the Court to make parenting orders, including in relation to travel, see How do I apply for parenting orders?
The Court has an out-of-hours service for emergencies: that is, if there is a risk that a child may be taken out of the country before the next working day. Call the Court on 1300 352 000 and you will be referred to this emergency number.
If your child (or a child you have parental responsibility for) was taken from their home country without your permission and without the authorisation of a court, you may be able to get assistance under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction (Hague Convention).
The Hague Convention is the main international agreement that covers international parental child abduction. It provides a process for a parent to seek to have their child returned to their home country. The Hague Convention sets up a central authority in each signature country to deal with applications for the return of children taken to or from each country. The Australian Government Attorney-General's Department is the central authority for Australia.
If a child you have parental responsibility for has left Australia without your permission, you should contact the Commonwealth Attorney-General’s Department on 1800 100 480 or go to International parental child abduction for more information.
For a list of applicable countries, and more information about the Hague Convention, see the Hague Convention page on the website of the Commonwealth Attorney-General’s Department.
If your child is in another country, you may want to seek private legal advice in that country about your options. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade may be able to assist left-behind parents in accessing an English-speaking lawyer in a non-Hague country.
If you have brought your child to Australia from another country, and the child’s other parent alleges that you did so without their permission, or an order of a court in that country, court proceedings may be started against you in Australia for your child to be returned to the other country.
For information on how to get legal help see Find a lawyer and support services.
Practice directions are procedural guidelines issued by the Court. They complement legislation, rules and regulations. They provide specific direction about the practice and procedure that must be followed in certain types of proceedings.
Practice directions are issued by the Chief Justice/Chief Judge upon advice of judges of the Court, pursuant to the Court’s inherent power to control its own processes, as well as the power under the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia Act 2021 for the Court to give directions about the practice and procedure to be followed in a proceeding.
In general, practice directions are issued to:
Below are links to the practice directions that apply to this area of law:
NOTE: When a parenting order is made, each person affected by the order must comply with it. For information on the process, should the order be breached, see Compliance and enforcement.
If your child (or children) normally lives with you and their other parent (or another person) has your child and is refusing to return them to you; or you have parenting orders, and the other party is preventing your child from living with your or spending time with you in accordance with those orders, you may be able to apply for a recovery order.
If you do not know where your child is, you can also apply for orders to help you to find them (called a Commonwealth information order or location order) when you apply for recovery orders.
A recovery order is an order of the Court which can require a child to be returned to:
See section 67Q of the Family Law Act 1975.
You can apply for a recovery order if you are:
Before you apply for a recovery order, you should read the fact sheet Recovery orders. You should also refer to the Australian Federal Police Family Law Kit.
There are different processes for applying for a recovery order, depending on whether or not you have a current parenting order or a parenting case pending in the Court.
If you have already started proceedings asking the Court to make parenting orders, and you want to apply for a recovery order, you need to file:
For more information about eFiling and a step-by-step guide see How do I eFile?
If there are no current proceedings and you want to apply for a recovery order, you need to include your application for a recovery order in an application for parenting orders.
For information about filing requirements and a step-by-step guide to applying for parenting orders see How do I apply for parenting orders?
The Court will list the application for a first court date.
The Court is not a child recovery agency. If the Court makes an order authorising or directing another person to find, recover, and deliver, a child, you must give a copy of the order to that person. In most instances, this will be the Australian Federal Police (AFP).
If the Court makes an order for the recovery of a child, the applicant will need to complete the Recovery Order Information Sheet found AFP Family Law Kit.
When the child is returned to you, you must notify the Court as soon as practicable.
In some situations, you may ask the Court to issue a location order, Commonwealth information order, and/or publication order.
A location order is an order of the Court which requires a person to provide to the Court, information they have, or which they obtain, about a child (see section 67J(1) of the Family Law Act 1975).
A Commonwealth information order is a type of location order which requires the Secretary of a Commonwealth (Federal) Government department, or an authority of a Commonwealth instrumentality, to provide to the Court information in its records about the location of a child (see sections 67J(1)(b) and 67J(2) of the Family Law Act 1975).
An application for a Commonwealth information order usually needs to be served on the person to whom the proposed order is to be directed (in other words, the person who will need to act on it, such as the Secretary of the relevant department) at least seven days before the Court hearing (see section 67N(3) of the Family Law Act 1975 and section 52 of the Family Law Regulations 2024).
A Commonwealth information order stays in force for 12 months.
There are different processes for applying for a location order, depending on whether or not you have a current parenting order or a parenting case pending in the Court.
If there are parenting orders in place, or you have already started proceedings asking the Court to make parenting orders, and you want to apply for a recovery or location order, you need to file:
If there are no parenting orders in place and you want to apply for a recovery or location order, you need to include your application for the order in an application for parenting orders in an Initiating Application.
Very strict rules apply to publishing information about family law proceedings. Sections 114Q and 114R of the Family Law Act 1975 make it an offence to publish details of proceedings or images that may identify parties and/or witnesses involved in the proceedings, with only very limited exceptions. Penalties of up to one year imprisonment can apply.
A publication order is an order of the Court which partially lifts publishing restrictions in a particular family law case, to allow media outlets to publicise certain details of a case, to help to find a missing child. A publication order will set out the information which may be published.
A publication order is usually made only as a last resort, after other attempts to locate a child have been undertaken, such as a location order. To apply for a publication order, you need to file:
If your child has been taken from their home country without your permission, and without the authorisation of a court, you may be able to get assistance under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. See Relocation and travel for more information.
You are not required to be represented by a lawyer, or to seek legal advice, before entering into consent orders or applying to the Court, or if you have been served with an application. However, family law is complex, and getting legal advice will help you to better understand your rights and responsibilities.
Before your court event you should see the Attending court section of this website. It provides information about etiquette and tips, different hearing types and attending electronic hearings (if your hearing is being conducted remotely).
There is also information about notifying the Court if you have any safety concerns or require any additional support to attend a hearing or court event.
You should bring with you all of the documents relevant to your matter, noting which ones have already been filed with the Court. Including:
For more information, see the Attending court section.
You should also familiarise yourself with the Family Law Practice Direction – Parenting proceedings, which sets out the procedural requirements and steps in proceedings about parenting matters.
Every case is different and may be handled differently depending on the needs of your family. This video explains the usual process of a family law case involving children and provides an overview of what can be expected in most cases in the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia.
7:00 MIN
An AUSLAN version of this video is also available.
The Family Advocacy and Support Service (FASS) is an integrated duty lawyer and social worker service available for families affected by family violence or abuse. FASS is run by Legal Aid and is free. FASS may be able to help you with preparing documentation, organising a referral to a service and helping with court proceedings.
Visit https://familyviolencelaw.gov.au/fass/ to find the contact details of FASS in your state or territory.
If you have a family violence order, you must tell the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (the Court) about the order.
The Notice of child abuse, family violence or risk is a mandatory form for any person who files an Initiating application, Application for consent orders or Response to initiating application in the Court seeking parenting orders. The Notice of child abuse, family violence or risk is the way that you notify the Court of any allegations of family violence, child abuse or risk, in parenting proceedings.
See How the Court considers safety and risk for more information.
A family violence order is an order made under a state or territory law to protect a person from family violence. The Court does not make family violence orders.
Family violence orders may affect orders made by the Court, especially parenting orders about children spending time with a parent or another person. For more information about family violence orders see, Family violence orders.
The Court is often assisted in children’s cases by expert evidence about risk, medical and other health records, and forensic investigations. These can include:
In most cases, the costs of those services (other than those provided by Court Children’s Services) must be paid by the parties to the proceedings.
The Court is committed to the protection of vulnerable parties and children in family law proceedings and is leading the way in helping families that have experienced family violence and other safety risks to navigate the family law system.
Lighthouse plays a central role in the Court’s response to cases which may involve risk relating to family violence, mental health, drug and alcohol misuse and child abuse and neglect, by shaping the allocation of resources and urgency given to such cases.
You will be invited to complete the risk screen when you file an Initiating Application or Response with the Court seeking orders relating to children, such as parenting only orders, or parenting and financial orders, in Adelaide, Brisbane, Cairns, Canberra, Dandenong, Darwin, Hobart, Launceston, Melbourne, Newcastle, Parramatta, Rockhampton, Sydney, Townsville and Wollongong.
For more information see Lighthouse.
If you have any concerns about your safety while attending court, you must let the Court know. See Safety at court for more information about safety plans and what the Court can do.
Family violence between parents is traumatic for children and can affect them in many ways. The following factsheets provide information for parents about the ways high levels of parental conflict can affect children and the harmful effect of family violence on children.
For more information see Family violence and children.
Family Advocacy and Support Service
The Family Advocacy and Support Service (FASS) is an integrated duty lawyer and social worker service available for families affected by family violence or abuse. FASS is run by Legal Aid and is free. FASS may be able to help you with preparing documentation, organising a referral to a service and helping with court proceedings.
Visit https://familyviolencelaw.gov.au/fass/ to find the contact details of FASS in your state or territory.
There are a number of other organisations that also provide advice and support. See Family Violence - Get help and support.
If you are in immediate danger call 000.
The Courts acknowledge the traditional owners and custodians of country throughout Australia and acknowledges their continuing connection to land, sea and community. We pay our respects to the people, the cultures and the elders, past, present and emerging.
