CJH v Department of Family and Community Services

In the case of CJH v Department of Family and Community Services, the applicant, the maternal grandmother of a foster child, sought judicial review of a decision made by the Department of Family and Community Services to place the child in the care of a former foster mother of the child’s father. The application was brought under the Community Services (Complaints, Reviews and Monitoring) Act 1993, and the primary issue for the court to determine was whether the applicant had standing to bring the application. The Department sought to have the application dismissed on the basis that the applicant did not have standing.

The court found that the applicant did indeed have standing to bring the application. In interpreting the relevant statutory provision, the court held that the meaning of “genuine concern in the subject matter of the decision concerned” was not limited to a direct interest in the child but could also extend to those who have a significant relationship with the child, such as a grandparent. The court found that the applicant, as the maternal grandmother, had a genuine concern in the subject matter of the decision and therefore had standing to bring the application.

The court dismissed the Department’s application to have the case dismissed for want of jurisdiction. It ordered the Department to provide an updated report on the child’s current placement and any other relevant material by a specified date. The applicant was also required to file and serve any material in response to the Department’s material by a subsequent date. Finally, the court set down the applicant’s application for further direction on a specified date and time.