276ACourt to have regard to certain matters

276A Court to have regard to certain matters (1) In determining whether to make a protection order, the Court must have regard to advice from the Secretary as to— (a) if a case plan has been prepared in relation to the child, the objectives of the case plan; and (b) if the child has one or more siblings under the age of 18 years, the arrangements in place for the care of those siblings; and (c) the age of the child and the period of time that the child has spent in out of home care during the child's lifetime (whether or not as a consequence of a court order). (2) In determining whether to make a protection order that has the effect of conferring parental responsibility for a child on the Secretary, the Court must have regard to advice from the Secretary as to— (a) the likelihood of a parent of the child permanently resuming care of the child during the term of the protection order; and (b) the outcome of any previous attempts to reunify any child with the parent of the child; and (c) if a parent of the child has previously had another child permanently removed from the parent's care, the desirability of making an early decision about the future permanent care arrangements for the child the subject of the proposed order; and (d) the benefits to the child of making a care by Secretary order to facilitate alternate arrangements for the permanent care of the child if— (i) the child is in out of home care as a result of an order under this Part and has been in out of home care under such an order for a cumulative period of 12 months; and (ii) there appears to be no realistic prospect of the child being able to safely return permanently to the care of the child's parent within a further period of 12 months; and (iii) there are no permanent care arrangements already available for the child; and (e) the desirability of making a permanent care order, if the child is placed with a person who is intended to have permanent care of the child. (3) Section 287A(4) applies to the determination of a cumulative period under this section (except subsection (1)(c)). S. 277 substituted by No. 61/2014 s. 19.