Parents to be given pre-consent counselling
24 Parents to be given pre-consent counselling
The chief executive must arrange for each of the child’s parents to receive counselling about the prescribed information under section 23.
The counselling must be carried out by a counsellor nominated by the chief executive.
The nominated counsellor may be an officer of the department.
However, if the nominated counsellor is an officer of the department, the chief executive must—
advise the parent that the parent may ask for further counselling by someone who is not an officer of the department; and
if the parent makes a request under paragraph (a), nominate another counsellor who is not an officer of the department to carry out the further counselling.
The counselling must be carried out in a way that allows the parent to ask questions and discuss the prescribed information and matters arising from the information.
If the counsellor reasonably suspects the parent does not have capacity to consent to the adoption, the counsellor must notify the chief executive.
The counsellor may offer to meet with other persons.
Example—
The counsellor may offer to meet other family members to help the parent to consider other options for the child’s long-term care.
The counselling may be carried out in 1 or more sessions and by 1 or more counsellors.
In this section—
counsellor means a person who the chief executive is satisfied has appropriate qualifications or experience to carry out counselling under this section.
This provision refers to the regulations (prescribed information
). Made under this Act:
This Act’s bill:Explanatory memorandumSecond reading speech
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