JS v Secretary, Department of Family and Community Services

The appellant, JS, sought judicial review of a decision made by the Children's Court of New South Wales, which had been the subject of a statutory appeal to the District Court. The Secretary of the Department of Family and Community Services was the respondent. The core of the dispute concerned contact arrangements for a child, specifically whether the primary judge in the Children's Court had erred in making non-binding "notations" regarding contact rather than formal contact orders under the *Children and Young Persons (Care and Protection) Act 1998* (NSW).

The Court of Appeal was required to determine two primary legal issues. Firstly, whether the District Court judge erred in concluding that there was no appealable error in the Children's Court decision. Secondly, the Court considered whether the primary judge in the Children's Court had provided sufficient reasons for his decision, and whether the inclusion of non-binding notations for contact constituted an error of law on the face of the record or a jurisdictional error.

The Court of Appeal found that the District Court judge had correctly determined that the appeal to the District Court was limited to questions of law. It held that the primary judge's decision to make "notations" regarding contact, rather than formal orders, did not constitute an error of law on the face of the record or a jurisdictional error. The Court reasoned that the *Children and Young Persons (Care and Protection) Act 1998* did not mandate the making of specific contact orders in all circumstances, and that the primary judge's reasons, while perhaps brief, were sufficient to explain the basis for his decision within the statutory framework.

The summons filed by JS on 13 May 2014 was dismissed with costs.