In the event the Court has determined that your matter shall be progressed with the assistance of a Court based Family Consultant, such as the preparation of a Family Report, a ‘Child Inclusive Conference’ etcetera, the Court has adopted processes that will allow this process to continue.
The Court has recently advised that:
Interviews with adult parties will generally occur on a separate day via telephone and will be staggered;
In adhering to the principles of social distancing, interviews with children and parent/child observations must be limited to a maximum of 1.5 hours with the same individual(s);
Observations will likely occur in a separate room to that used for the interviews with children; and
To the extent possible, taking into account the age of the child, Family Consultants are to adhere to the principles of social distancing by keeping an appropriate distance (i.e. at least 1.5 to 2 metres apart). There should never more than eight people in the room other than the Family Consultant at one time.