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Re an application by Ewen [1998] NZFLR 193 (FC)

Case summary provided by LEXISNEXIS NZ

Name: Re an application by Ewen
Reported: [1998] NZFLR 193
File number: CYPF 048/171/97
Date: 11 November 1997
Court: Family Court
Location: Otahuhu
Judge: Adams DCJ
Charge: Sexual Assaults
CYPFA: s238(1)(d)
Key Title: Care and protection cross-over - s280; Custody - CYFS

LEXISNEXIS Summary:

Children and young persons - Care and protection orders - Application for declaration in respect of 15-year-old youth - Young person already under the care of the Director-General pursuant to an order made under s 238(1)(d) of the Children, Young Persons, and Their Families Act 1989 - Whether order could be made under s 78 of the Children, Young Persons, and Their Families Act 1989 - Children, Young Persons, and Their Families Act 1989, ss 68. 70, 78, 238.

An application by the Youth Advocate was made that the young person in question (D) was in need of care and protection. D, who was fifteen years old, and who was alleged to have engaged in a number of sexual assaults, was in the care of the Director-General pursuant to an order made under s 238(1)(d) of the Children, Young Persons, and Their Families Act 1989. The Youth Advocate argued that D’s needs for care and protection were not receiving appropriate attention and sought leave to bring the application under s 68(c).

Held (granting leave to bring the application and making an interim order placing the young person in the custody of the Director-General):

(1) A case that D was in need of care and protection had been made out.

(2) Although the circumstances in which an order might be made under s 78 where there was already an order under s 238(1)(d) was likely to be rare, there was good purpose in making a s 78 order in this case because otherwise it seemed that attention would not be paid to D’s care and protection needs. The s 78 order would not supplant the order under s 238 but would simply lie in the same position with the purpose of unlocking Part II of the Act for the benefit of the young person involved.

Application

This was an application for a declaration that a young person was in need of care and protection pursuant to s 78 of the Children, Young Persons, and Their Families Act 1989.

Katherine J Ewen, Youth Advocate