New Zealand Legal Terminology/Acts/Sections OT/ Family Court Conferences
What is Section 5 of CoCA?
Decisions under the CoCA are made in accordance with the welfare and best interests of the child having regard to the relevant principles in section 5. Section 5(e) states that a child must be protected from all forms of violence.
One of the inconsistencies between the DVA and the CoCA is that psychological abuse is explicitly provided for in the DVA, but not in the CoCA. The CoCA contains specific provisions which prescribe the way in which the Court must deal with care and contact arrangements where physical and sexual abuse is alleged; they do not apply to allegations of psychological abuse.
The Bill amends the CoCA by providing that where a protection order has been made against a party to an application for a parenting order, the Court may only make an order allowing that party day-to-day care, or contact with, a child if the Court is satisfied that the child will be safe. If the Court is not satisfied that the child will be safe, it may make an order for supervised contact between the child and the party. This ensures that where a protection order has been made on the ground of psychological abuse, children who have been subject to, or witnessed, that abuse will be afforded additional protection.
Decisions under the CoCA are made in accordance with the welfare and best interests of the child having regard to the relevant principles in section 5. Section 5(e) states that a child must be protected from all forms of violence. The Bill amends this section to adopt the definition of violence in the DVA to clarify that all forms of violence means physical, sexual, and psychological abuse.
The Bill also strengthens the protection for children at risk of unlawful removal from New Zealand. The restriction in section 77 of the CoCA to situations involving imminent risk of removal has been removed in order to protect children in cases where the risk of removal may not be “imminent”. The Bill will enable orders preventing removal to be more flexible by specifying that the child can travel overseas with a specified person or persons. It will also allow for the suspension of orders for a set period of time (currently parties must discharge orders and apply for new orders). This could, for example, allow a child to travel overseas to attend a family wedding or funeral.
