Where a single parent offender has recently achieved reunification of children with significant developmental needs into her care after extensive engagement with child protection services, and imprisonment would cause the children to re-enter out-of-home care with no suitable kinship placements available, the family hardship is exceptional and the plea for mercy may be irresistible, rendering a further custodial component outside the range of sentencing options available. A finding of exceptional family hardship is a question of judgment based on the available facts, not itself a finding of fact. A community correction order cannot be imposed for an offence punishable by not more than five penalty units under s 37(a) of the Sentencing Act 1991.
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