Download Notes on law of evidence and more Study notes Law of Evidence in PDF only on Docsity!
CHAPTER 59
THE CHILDREN ACT.
Arrangement of Sections.
Section
Part I—Interpretation.
- Interpretation. Part II—Rights of the child.
- Definition of child.
- Guiding principles.
- Child’s right to stay with parents.
- Duty to maintain a child.
- Parental responsibility.
- Harmful customary practices.
- Harmful employment.
- Children with disabilities.
Part III—Support for children by local authorities.
- Local councils to safeguard children and promote reconciliation between parents and children.
- Duty to report infringement of child’s rights.
- Appeals.
Part IV—Family and children court.
- Establishment of family and children court.
- Jurisdiction of family and children court.
- Venue of the family and children court.
- Procedure in family and children court.
- Care or supervision order to be of benefit to child.
- Rules of court.
- Offence to remove a child from a place of safety without authority.
- Persons to apply for discharge or variation of supervision or care order.
- Duty of probation and social welfare officer to investigate.
- Requirement to disclose information.
- Medical examination of a child.
Part VI—Foster care placements.
- Conditions for foster care placements.
Part VII—Adoption.
- Jurisdiction. Prerequisites for adoption.
- Restrictions and conditions.
- Intercountry adoption.
- Consent.
- Functions of the court.
- Rules as to the procedure for adoption.
- Appeals.
- Effect of an adoption order.
- Devolution of property.
- Wills.
- Adopted children register.
- Disclosure of adoption.
Part VIII—Approved homes.
- Minister to approve homes.
- Admission of children to home.
- Purpose of an approved home.
- Parental responsibility of warden and staff of approved homes.
- Contact with parents and relatives.
- Removal of child from an approved home.
- Recovery order.
Appeals.
Revocation of declaration of parentage.
Maintenance orders.
- Application for child maintenance order.
- Warrant to attach earnings or levy the distress for the recovery of maintenance money.
- Variation of maintenance orders.
- Money to be paid to applicant or custodian.
- Appointment of custodian.
- Misapplying maintenance money.
- Cessation of order.
- Rules in respect of fees and costs.
Maintenance during divorce, separation or nullity.
- Maintenance during divorce, separation or nullity.
- Variation of custody.
- Upbringing of a child.
- Unfit parents.
Part X—Children charged with offences.
- Age of criminal responsibility.
- Arrest and charge of children.
Detention pending trial.
- Bail.
- Remand.
Role of the executive committee courts.
- Role of executive committee courts.
Family and children court.
- Criminal jurisdiction of family and children court.
- Orders of family and children court.
- Probation and social welfare officer’s report.
- National Rehabilitation Centre for Children and other centres.
- Committee of visitors; rules governing a centre; assisting escape or preventing return to a centre.
- Aftercare.
- Duration of cases.
- Remission of cases.
- Restriction on use of certain words.
- Protection of privacy and restriction on publication.
- Children in a magistrate’s court.
- Children in the High Court.
- Appeals.
Part XI—Miscellaneous.
- Decriminalisation of certain offences in relation to children.
- Inquiry as to age of person appearing to the court to be below eighteen years of age.
- Presumption of age by court conclusive evidence of that person’s age.
- General penal provision for offences under the Act.
- Regulations.
- Enforcement of judgments, decisions and orders of the family and children court.
- Modification of existing enactments.
- Transitional provisions regarding approved schools and reformatory schools.
Schedules
First Schedule Guiding principles in the implementation
of the Act.
Second Schedule Foster Care Placement Rules.
(i) “foster care placement” means the placement of a child with a person who is not his or her parent or relative and who is willing to undertake the care and maintenance of the child;
(j) “foster parent” means a person not being the biological mother,
father or relative of the child who assumes parental responsibility
of the child by way of a care order; (k) “guardian” means a person having parental responsibility for a
child; (l) “local authority” means a local government council; (m) “Minister” means the Minister responsible for children’s welfare; (n) “parent” means the biological mother or father or adoptive
mother or father of a child; (o) “parental responsibility” means all rights, duties, powers,
responsibilities and authority which by law a parent of a child has
in relation to the child; (p) “person in a position of authority” has the meaning assigned to
it by section 71; (q) “place of safety” means a place where food, protection and
accommodation is provided by a fit person to a child to whom
section 37 applies; (r) “remand home” means a place declared by the Minister to be a
remand home under section 91 or any other place declared to be
a remand home under any other enactment; (s) “Rules Committee” means the Rules Committee provided for by section 40 of the Judicature Act; (t) “significant harm” means significant harm within the meaning of section 21; (u) “supervision order” means a supervision order made under Part V of this Act and includes an interim supervision order; (v) “supervisor” means the person under whose supervision a child
has been placed under a supervision order or an interim
supervision order; (w) “welfare report” means a welfare report within the meaning of section 20.
Part II—Rights of the child.
to this Act shall be the guiding principles in making any decision based on this Act.
4. Child’s right to stay with parents. 1. A child is entitled to live with his or her parents or guardians. 2. Subject to subsection (1), where a competent authority determines in accordance with the laws and procedures applicable that it is in the best interests of the child to separate him or her from his or her parents or parent, the best substitute care available shall be provided for the child. 5. Duty to maintain a child.
(1) It shall be the duty of a parent, guardian or any person having custody of a child to maintain that child and, in particular, that duty gives a child the right to—
- education and guidance;
- immunisation;
- adequate diet;
- clothing;
- shelter; and
- medical attention.
(2) Any person having custody of a child shall protect the child from discrimination, violence, abuse and neglect.
6. Parental responsibility. 1. Every parent shall have parental responsibility for his or her child. 2. Where the natural parents of a child are deceased, parental responsibility may be passed on to relatives of either parent, or by way of a care order, to the warden of an approved home, or to a foster parent. 7. Harmful customary practices.
It shall be unlawful to subject a child to social or customary practices that are harmful to the child’s health.
8. Harmful employment.
No child shall be employed or engaged in any activity that may be harmful to his or her health, education or mental, physical or moral development.
9. Children with disabilities.
The parents of children with disabilities and the State shall take appropriate steps to see that those children are—
- assessed as early as possible as to the extent and nature of their disabilities;
- offered appropriate treatment; and
- afforded facilities for their rehabilitation and equal opportunities to education. Part III—Support for children by local authorities. 10. Local councils to safeguard children and promote reconciliation between parents and children.
(1) It is the general duty of every local government council from the village to the district level—
- to safeguard and promote the welfare of children within its area; and
- to designate one of its members to be the person responsible for the welfare of children; and this person shall be referred to as the secretary for children’s affairs.
- The secretary for children’s affairs shall, in the exercise of his or her functions in relation to the welfare of children, be assisted by such officers of the local government council as the local government council may determine.
- In particular, every local government council shall mediate in any situation where the rights of a child are infringed and especially with regard to the protection of a child, the child’s right to succeed to the property of his or her parents and all the rights accorded to a child in section 5.
- The power given to the local government council to protect the property of a child shall not include any powers of distribution of the property by the local government council.
12. Appeals. Subject to this Act, the executive committee court at village level shall be the court of first instance in matters under this Part of the Act and appeals from that court shall follow the order of appeals as set out in section 105. Part IV—Family and children court. 13. Establishment of family and children court. 1. There shall be a court to be known as the family and children court in every district, and any other lower government unit designated by the Chief Justice by notice in the Gazette. 2. A magistrate not below the grade of magistrate grade II shall be assigned to preside over the family and children court. 14. Jurisdiction of family and children court.
(1) A family and children court shall have power to hear and determine—
- criminal charges against a child subject to sections 93 and 94; and
- applications relating to child care and protection.
(2) The court shall also exercise any other jurisdiction conferred on it by this or any other written law.
15. Venue of the family and children court.
A family and children court shall, whenever possible, sit in a different building from the one normally used by other courts.
16. Procedure in family and children court.
(1) The procedure of the family and children court in all matters shall be in accordance with rules of court made by the Rules Committee for the purpose, but subject to the following—
- the court shall sit as often as necessary;
- proceedings shall be held in camera;
- proceedings shall be as informal as possible and by inquiry rather
than by exposing the child to adversarial procedures;
- parents or guardians of the child shall be present whenever possible;
- the child shall have a right to legal representation;
- the right to appeal shall be explained to the child.
(2) Apart from members and officers of the court, only the following persons may at the discretion of the court attend any sitting of a family and children court—
- parties to the case before the court, their advocates, witnesses and other persons directly concerned in the case;
- parents or guardians of the child before the court;
- a probation and social welfare officer; and
- any other person whom the court authorises to be present. 17. Care or supervision order to be of benefit to child.
A family and children court shall not make a supervision order or a care order unless it considers that doing so would be beneficial to the child.
18. Rules of court.
The Rules Committee may make rules prescribing—
- the procedure to be followed in a family and children court and, in particular, as to the recording of evidence and the manner of arriving at and recording of findings and orders;
- the manner in which a family and children court shall be constituted.
Part V—Care and protection of children.
19. Supervision orders and care orders.
On the application of a probation and social welfare officer or an authorised person, a family and children court may make—
- a supervision or interim supervision order placing a child under the supervision of a probation and social welfare officer while leaving the child in the custody of his or her parents or relatives.
