Children and Young People Act 2008

Parental responsibility may be shared between 2 or more people under—

a family group conference agreement; or

Family group conferences are dealt with in ch 3 and ch 12.

a voluntary care agreement; or

Voluntary care agreements are dealt with in pt 12.3.

a care and protection order including a parental responsibility provision; or

Care and protection orders are dealt with in ch 14.

a court order (under this Act or another law in force in the Territory).

If parental responsibility for a child or young person is shared with the director‑general, the director‑general may delegate the responsibility to a responsible person for an approved kinship and foster care organisation (see s 883A). The responsible person may subdelegate it to a position in the organisation (see s 883B). However, the director‑general must ensure that the delegated or subdelegated parental responsibility is properly exercised (see Legislation Act, s 238).

If parental responsibility is shared between 2 or more people, either of them may discharge the responsibility.

This section is subject to the following sections:

section 475 (Director‑general sharing daily care responsibility);

If the director‑general shares daily care responsibility for a child or young person, no other person with daily care responsibility for the child or young person may discharge the responsibility in a way that would be incompatible with the director‑general’s discharge of the responsibility (see s 475 (2)).

section 504 (Director‑general sharing long-term care responsibility);

If the director‑general shares long-term care responsibility for a child or young person and under a parental responsibility provision is required to consult with each other person who shares long‑term care responsibility for the child or young person in making a decision about a long-term matter for the child or young person, and another person who has long-term care responsibility for the child or young person disagrees with the director‑general’s proposed decision, the person or director‑general may apply to the Childrens Court for an order about the matter and the director‑general is required to not make the decision without the person’s agreement (see s 504 (2)).