A Court Assessment Order (CAO) is the order which is applied for before the Temporary Assessment Order (TAO) expires. A CAO is usually applied for if DOCS believe that it will take longer than 3 days (of the TAO) to complete the investigation.

DOCS must complete affidvait material and lodge this with the application for the CAO with the Childrens Court before the TAO expires and before the next Childrens Court date. This material and application must be stamped with the Childrens Court stamp and must be signed by the registrar from the court house. There will be 4 copies of these, one for DOCS, one for the court and one for both mother and father (or just mother or just father depending on the circumstances). Even if the mother or father of the children is not involved in the children's lives, attempts must be made by law to contact all biological parents and inform them of the current situation.

DOCS must provide you with a copy of the court material for a CAO. This can be given to you the day before court, depending on the day that Childrens Court is in session and the day that the TAO expired, in which case you or your legal representative should ask for an adjournment to allow time to read through the material. The CAO should be personally served to the parents, however other arrangments can be made for the parents to collect this paper work, but this must be discussed with the parents first.

A CAO duration is for 28 days, or 4 weeks, from midnight on the day that it was decided. A CAO can be extended but only once and only if the magistrate believes it is in the best interest of the child. The extension for the CAO must be lodged before the CAO expires.

DOCS should inform parents during the TAO that they will be applying for a CAO. DOCS should inform the parents of the reason for this and their right of appeal for this decision.

Please remember though all the 'should's' the Dept are supposed to do mentioned above don't always if ever happen...so don't expect to be told or informed of anything until your served an affidavit during the 3 days of the TAO!

Child Protection Act 1999 Section 44 states Making of court assessment order:

"The Childrens Court may make a court assessment order only
if the court is satisfied an investigation is necessary to assess whether the child is a child in need of protection and the investigation can not be properly carried out unless the order is made."

Another bit of advise is most likely if you find that the affidavit contains 'false allegations and lies' to state to the magistrate at your first court appearance that the material is scandalous and oppressive so that the magistrate has a heads up on this first up...this might be more for when the dept apply for a interim Child Protection Order but it could work just as well here.

This is a legitimate and legal statement and a very serious one to make but you have nothing to hide if this is the case...the dept has the onus of burden of proof to proove their claims in no uncertain terms with factual evidence and not just heresay...as has been my experience in making this statement. I did have to produce an affidavit with my declared facts and if I could proove it, I did.

Let's just say it was well received. . .

I have never seen any uplifting orders from any court.....they called the children for a nother forced visit, when i took the one that refused to go to see them about it, they ...mermaid beach mob...told me to get out of the office or they'd call the police......then the older one ran away....says a lot for them doesnt it....above the law....I think not...but oh how the wheels of justice turn so slowly.....for the children this is absurd.

I never heard of such orders....so much for the solicitor...who only emptied my bank account...but he will have his day of reckoning....

The usual order for Court Order is as follows...

TAO (Temporary Assessment Order) - 3 days long.
CAO (aka KO) (Court Assessment Order) - 4 weeks long but can be extended (although not usually extended)... DoCS regularly attempt to have them extended and are often successful but the orders may only be extended for 2 weeks and not the full 4 at the Magistrate's discretion.
CPO (Child Protection Order)- 3 months, 12 months, 2 years or until the child turns 18 years of age... These are also applied for in this order.Although is adaptable as DoCS think they are above the law.
PSO (Protective Supervision Order)- 6 months (usually) and applied for when the child is returned to the parent/s but DoCS still want to lord it over the family.

Everything from a CSO to a PSO is "adaptable". By this I mean that each order has a set life span, but DoCS will attempt to shorten/lengthen where they see fit.

With a CPO, if DoCS have already been previously granted a 3 month order on a child, they will bypass another 3 month order and either go for a 12 month order or a 2 year order. If they are granted a 2 year order - the parent needs to keep their nose very clean because DoCS will be looking to remove the child until he/she is 18 years of age if they become involved with the family again.

Good on you rainbowChaser you explained it very well.

LOL

Too many years of learning the DoCS game and how to play it.

Impressed and simply done...I understood that much better than my lengthy crappy expo...

LOL

Aah it's all good my friend. Some poor parents haven't got a clue and that's not their fault.

I've yet to come across a case worker who explains it clearly to the parents. Or even explains it at all for that matter.

One thing I should have added is that here in QLD hospitals can apply for TAOs and so can the police.

Hi,

thanks rainbowchaser you summed that up so simply.

I reckon I would make a great CSO... And get myself sacked within 2 weeks for it. LOL

Yeh for helping parents instead of kicking them down even further...you have a heart which isn't a qualification for being a CSO or any government dept member I thinks.

Actually a CAO can be extended for the full 4 weeks. The extension can go for any number of weeks as long as it doesn't exceed the 4 weeks.



CPO's can't go for a period of 3 months. They now can only go for 12 months, 2 years or until the child is 18.

There are also Directive Orders which outline directions on what the parent/s must and must not do.

CAOs are not usually extended. It is actually out of character to have them extended - but DoCS will try... They try anything.

No, the first order is a 3 month order. I have been subject to one myself. Often DoCS will bypass this particular order if they think the parent/s have major parenting issues.

If you want to dig deeper, we can talk about Orders by Consent as well.

I was only outlining the more commonly sort orders that DoCS go after and the order they come in.