To investigate innovative court-based approaches to infants in care and protection proceedings

Traditional adversarial Court processes relating to infants found to be in need of care and protection lack efficacy and efficiency, evidenced by the increasing number of children placed in out-of-home care at great cost to child development, and to the Victorian taxpayer. Problem-solving courts have proven to be far more effective, ensuring that infants can be returned to their parents care earlier, and more sustainably. No such problem-solving court focussing on the needs of infants exist in Australia , though several examples exist in the US and UK. This project proposes to explore them with a view to the development and implementation of a first Australian first model, adapted to the Victorian context.