Checklist · Child Protection & Care Proceedings
Checklist: realistic possibility of restoration and the permanency plan (NSW s 83)
Checklist for testing a permanency plan against section 83 of the Children and Young Persons (Care and Protection) Act 1998 (NSW), including the 6-month and 12-month decision points and the 24-month limit.
- Kind
- Checklist. Steps or checks to work through and tick off.
- Where it applies
- Australia, New South Wales
- AI use
- Yellow You and the tool draft together, with you directing. You check every statement you rely on.
- Law stated as at
- 22 October 2026
- Status
- Maintained. Checked on 22 October 2026 against the authority it cites, for Australia and New South Wales.
- Version
- 1
- Source
- Written for this library
When to use it
Use when the Secretary has filed a care application that is not an emergency care and protection order, and again before the final hearing. It tests the plan. It does not draft the parent's evidence.
Used for these tasks
- Test the care plan or case plan against the statutory requirements
- Build the placement and order timeline against the statutory reunification clock
- Identify the restoration services to request and prepare the application
Each task page says how far AI may help with the task and what the lawyer must review.
How AI may be used
AI may place dates from the orders and the plan into the timeline. The lawyer decides whether the assessment and the plan meet section 83.
AI may
- Calculate 6 months and 12 months from the date of the interim order the lawyer identifies, and 24 months from the date the lawyer identifies as the start of the reasonable period
- List headings in the Secretary's plan against the subsection (3A) contents list
- Extract the services named in the plan into a table with a blank for whether they have been offered
AI must not
- Must not state that there is or is not a realistic possibility of restoration
- Must not write the parent's affidavit or the submissions on the assessment
- Must not describe sections 8, 9 or 83A, which were not opened for this checklist
The lawyer checks
- The interim-order date used for the 6-month or 12-month period is the date parental responsibility was allocated to a person other than a parent, and the child's age on that date is correct
- A plan that says restoration is not realistic includes the reasons and the active efforts required by subsection (3A)
- The Court cannot make a final care order unless it expressly finds the matters in subsection (7), and the plan gives the particulars in subsection (7A)
- A reasonable period longer than 24 months is used only where the Secretary is satisfied of exceptional circumstances under subsection (8A)
Method: how the Green, Yellow and Red levels are decided. This is guidance for planning, not legal advice.
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