The Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (QCAT) has introduced a new Form 18 – Application to stay a decision – child protection matters.
Applicants often seek the stay of a reviewable decision made by the Department of Child Safety, Seniors and Disability Services (DCSSDS) under the Child Protection Act 1999.
The practice has been for applicants to use the QCAT Form 44 – Application to stay a decision (Form 44) when seeking a stay. However, this has often resulted in these applications failing to capture all relevant information required for child protection matters and has complicated the consideration of these applications.
To address this, a new Form 18 – Application to stay a decision – child protection matters (Form 18) has been introduced for use.
The new Form 18 streamlines the stay application process for child protection matters and clarifies and captures the information required, including:
- providing information about what a ‘stay of a decision’ means;
- requiring applicants to specifically identify what decision of the DCSSDS they are seeking to be stayed and the date of the decision;
- capturing the applicant’s details, including whether they identify as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander;
- capturing the full name and date of birth of all children affected by the decision, the applicant’s relationship with the subject children and whether they identify as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander;
- enabling applicants to list the reasons for their application and explain why they are requesting a stay of a decision;
- updating the ‘Checklist’ at the end of the form to ensure applicants lodge their application together with the Form 17 – Application to review a decision – child protection and adoption matters;
- updating the instructions of the form to include: Further explanation about what a ‘stay of a decision is’; A list of all decisions that may be reviewed by QCAT under the Child Protection Act 1999; and Options available for obtaining legal advice to assist parties.
The new Form 18 is now available on the QCAT website.
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