Court Ordered Conferences (“COCs”) Court Ordered Conferences are meetings that are held if you contest the application made by Child Safety Services. An independent chairperson runs the meeting, and the aim is to try to resolve the matters that are in dispute in the proceeding. Usually, if a party is not consenting to the order then a conference must be held, or reasonable attempts to hold a conference must be made before the court can make a Child Protection Order. However, a court may dispense with the requirement in some cases, including where there are concerns about the safety of a party if a conference were held and the court is satisfied this outweighs the potential benefit of holding the conference. The court may also order multiple conferences at different stages during the proceedings to address issues as they arise. The meeting may run in a similar way to the family group meeting, using a structure such as: What are we worried about? What is working well? What needs to happen? However, unlike a family group meeting, the focus of these questions in a Court Ordered Conference should be on how these matters relate to any disagreement regarding the order the court is being asked to make. You may consider, if you am not prepared to accept the order that Child Safety Services is asking the court to make, whether you could offer to agree to a different or a shorter order. You could also consider the length of time you believe is required to achieve case plan goals and ask Child Safety Services to justify why they are asking for the length of time they have specified. Information Kit on Child Protection for Parents 56
Court Ordered Conferences (“COCs”) Court Ordered Conferences are meetings that are held if you contest the application made by Child Safety Services. An independent chairperson runs the meeting, and the aim is to try to resolve the matters that are in dispute in the proceeding. Usually, if a party is not consenting to the order then a conference must be held, or reasonable attempts to hold a conference must be made before the court can make a Child Protection Order. However, a court may dispense with the requirement in some cases, including where there are concerns about the safety of a party if a conference were held and the court is satisfied this outweighs the potential benefit of holding the conference. The court may also order multiple conferences at different stages during the proceedings to address issues as they arise. The meeting may run in a similar way to the family group meeting, using a structure such as: What are we worried about? What is working well? What needs to happen? However, unlike a family group meeting, the focus of these questions in a Court Ordered Conference should be on how these matters relate to any disagreement regarding the order the court is being asked to make. You may consider, if you am not prepared to accept the order that Child Safety Services is asking the court to make, whether you could offer to agree to a different or a shorter order. You could also consider the length of time you believe is required to achieve case plan goals and ask Child Safety Services to justify why they are asking for the length of time they have specified. Information Kit on Child Protection for Parents 56
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