How Some Australian Children Drift into Care

Operational procedures used by child protection systems in some states of Australia introduce a possibility that children might ‘drift into care.’ The concept of ‘drift into care’ is used if the final reason that a court authorises the placement of a child into out-of-home care differs markedly from the first reason submitted by a child welfare Department to remove a child from the care of their parents. The chapter raises questions about the quality of evidence provided to child protection courts in some Australian states when addressing child protection matters, including whether the same standards are applied in child custody cases and child protection cases, and whether the same standard of evidence is applied to submissions by a child welfare Department and by a parent. Two case examples are discussed.