---
title: "Checklist: testing the care plan and permanency plan against the statutory requirements (NSW)"
url: "https://ailawframework.com/precedents/child-protection-and-care-proceedings/care-plan-permanency-plan-review-checklist"
type: "precedent"
site: "AI Law Framework"
id: "a52-care-plan-permanency-plan-review-checklist"
area_id: "A52"
kind: "checklist"
ai_level: "yellow"
version: 1
law_stated_as_at: "2026-10-17"
---

# Checklist: testing the care plan and permanency plan against the statutory requirements (NSW)

> Requirement-by-requirement checklist for testing a Department care plan and permanency plan against the Act, the record and the placement principles, so the lawyer can identify gaps before consenting or contesting.

Canonical page: https://ailawframework.com/precedents/child-protection-and-care-proceedings/care-plan-permanency-plan-review-checklist  
Law stated as at: 2026-10-17

Site index for agents: https://ailawframework.com/llms.txt

## Key facts

- Kind: Checklist. Steps or checks to work through and tick off.
- Practice area: [Child Protection & Care Proceedings](https://ailawframework.com/precedents/child-protection-and-care-proceedings.md)
- Jurisdictions: New South Wales
- AI level: Yellow. AI can help in set ways. A lawyer checks specific points before use.
- Law stated as at: 2026-10-17
- Status: Maintained. Checked on 2026-10-17 against the 5 authorities it cites, for New South Wales.

## When to use it

Use when a care plan or permanency plan is filed or amended, before a dispute resolution conference, and before advising a client to consent to a plan. It supports the lawyer's judgment; it does not decide whether restoration was properly assessed.

## How AI may be used

AI may line up the filed plan against the statutory requirements and the chronology the lawyer has settled, producing a table for the lawyer. Whether restoration was properly assessed, services were really offered and the principles were applied in substance is the lawyer's judgment.

**AI may:**

- Build a table setting each statutory requirement against what the plan says and where
- Cross-reference plan assertions to entries in the lawyer-settled chronology and list unsupported assertions
- Compute dates for the s 83(5) timeframe from sealed orders the lawyer supplies

**AI must not:**

- Must not summarise the plan as adequate or inadequate
- Must not receive placement addresses or carer identities
- Must not draft submissions on whether the Court should accept the plan

**The lawyer checks:**

- Every gap the table identifies, against the source documents
- Whether active efforts and services were real and available, not just listed
- Whether the placement principles were applied in substance

## Authorities

- [Children and Young Persons (Care and Protection) Act 1998 (NSW) s 78 (care plans: required content; cultural plan for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children)](https://legislation.nsw.gov.au/view/html/inforce/current/act-1998-157)
- [Children and Young Persons (Care and Protection) Act 1998 (NSW) ss 78A, 83 (permanency planning; restoration assessment; active efforts; express findings)](https://legislation.nsw.gov.au/view/html/inforce/current/act-1998-157)
- [Children and Young Persons (Care and Protection) Act 1998 (NSW) ss 9, 9A, 10A, 13 (principles; active efforts; permanent placement principles; Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander placement principles)](https://legislation.nsw.gov.au/view/html/inforce/current/act-1998-157)
- [Children and Young Persons (Care and Protection) Act 1998 (NSW) s 79(9), (10) (24-month limit on allocation to the Minister)](https://legislation.nsw.gov.au/view/html/inforce/current/act-1998-157)
- [Children's Court of NSW Practice Notes (including No 13, Section 38 Care Plans, and No 14, Standardised care orders)](https://childrenscourt.nsw.gov.au/practice-and-procedures/practice-notes.html)

## Full text and drafting notes

The full text and the drafting notes are not part of this public page. Signed-in firm accounts can read them at https://ailawframework.com/precedents/child-protection-and-care-proceedings/care-plan-permanency-plan-review-checklist and through the signed-in MCP connector https://ailawframework.com/mcp/firm.

*Practice guidance for planning and review. Confirm current primary sources and the requirements of the actual matter. This is general information, not legal advice.*