CCBA Secretary Report to Victorian Bar

The Children's Court Bar Association is comprised of dedicated Counsel who work in a unique area of law that is dynamic, challenging and rewarding.

The jurisdiction has quickly adapted to the significant changes to care orders implemented by amendments to the Children Youth and Families Act 2005 that took effect in March 2016. The jurisdiction continues to rapidly evolve in response to ongoing, highly contentious and topical issues including the prevalence of family violence in the community.

The CPD program is now focussing on better educating our members in relation to multi- disciplinary medical/ psychiatric research in addition to new therapeutic and practical initiatives directed to protecting children from exposure to trauma and family violence. Mr Kune and Ms Stead from our committee were on the organising committee of an Ethics, Courtcraft and Advocacy Seminar Series held at the Children's Court at Melbourne. Some of the topics were:

• Overview of Youth Control Orders/ Bail Amendments,
• Urine Drug Screening and Interpretation

In November last year, the Association hosted a CPD session on Psychological assessments with Fraser Gough as the speaker. Also in November, the Association hosted a seminar chaired by Julian Burnside, with DrRobyn Sampson as the speaker on Children in Immigration Detention. On 20 th March this year, Ms Stead chaired a CPD session titled Self Care When Working in Challenging Environments featuring special guest speaker, William Wainwright, forensic psychologist.

In May, Ms Delle- Vergini participated in The Whitelion Bail Out event.

We are delighted that Mr Kune has recently been appointed as a Children's Court Magistrate.