Introduction to Welfare Law Assignment 2022

Running head: INTRODUCTION TO WELFARE LAW
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Introduction to Welfare Law
Name
Institution

INTRODUCTION TO WELFARE LAW
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AUSTRALIAN WELFARE SYSTEM
Statutory child protection in Australia is the responsibility of the territory governments and
the state. There are departments in place that provide child protection and help vulnerable
children who are harmed, neglected or abused, as well as those who do not get proper care and
protection from their parents. Emotional abuse is usually the most common problem that
warrants intervention by the child protective services.
In order to ensure that children’s rights are upheld, statutory courts have been created. One
such court is the children’s court of Victoria. Such statutory courts are mandated to handle cases
of criminal offences that have been committed by children aged between the age of ten and
eighteen.
The children’s court of Victoria is divided into four divisions, each with a responsibility to
handle different issues. These divisions are: the family division, the criminal division, the koori
court and the neighborhood justice division. The family division handles issues related to
children’s welfare related to the family, such as determining guardianship. At times orders are
made for therapeutic treatment or interventions when the defendant is less than eighteen years
old (Fortson, 2011).
The criminal division handles all criminal offenses that have been made by children aged
between ten and eighteen. Children below the age of nine are not usually tried in a court of law.
However, this division does not handle cases related to death such as manslaughter, arson and
murder (Baratvand et. al, 2013). The third division under the children’s court of Victoria is the
koori court. This division is under the criminal division but handles cases related to aboriginal
children. The cases here are handled with little formality and technicality. The final division is

INTRODUCTION TO WELFARE LAW
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the neighborhood justice division which handles criminal offenses that have been committed by
homeless children, or aboriginal children with a close connection to the division.
The children’s court of Victoria is headed by the president of the court, who is a county court
judge. It also comprises of registrars and magistrates who in some cases can act as the judicial
officer. The court may give rights to appeal a decision, which may lie with the supreme court of
Victoria or the county court of Victoria depending on the person who made the decision (Home,
2019).
The case that was in court involved a sixteen year old boy who had been found selling drugs
within his home area. The boy admitted that he was an orphan and had been selling the drugs for
a while in order to support himself. He had lived with his mother until he was six when she
suddenly passed away due to an illness. Thereafter he had moved in with his grandmother, who
was the only living relative that he knew. He had never met or known his father, and both his
mother and grandmother had told him that he had passed away when the boy was still an infant.
When he turned eleven his grandmother had started fell sick. She went to hospital and the
medicines she was prescribed to take were expensive. Soon enough they barely had enough
money to pay for rent and eventually ended up moving into a homeless shelter. He had to drop
out of school to look after her. With time his grandmothers’ health improved, but she was still
too weak to work for a living thus the responsibility for their care fell on him.
At first he had done odd jobs that didn’t pay much but provided enough to buy food for the
both of them. But when he was thirteen his grandmother fell sick again and he needed to get
more money so as to buy her medication.
Eventually he got a job at a local supermarket. While he was working there he explained his
situation to his employer hoping to get a raise that would help cater to his and his grandmothers’