The legal status of your full-time care for your grandchildren or Whanau may not be clear at first. Court orders may have been made or an agreement may have been reached within the family, or nothing has yet been done to determine the arrangements for care. It is important to know your legal status in relation to children. This guide and the links it contains are intended to help you understand the legal landscape in New Zealand, but it does not replace your own legal advice from a lawyer. For help with legal advice, please click here. The Child Protection Act 2004 and the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989 are the two most important laws relating to the care of children in New Zealand. If Oranga Tamariki did not ask the court to order orders in respect of the children or if they were not involved, it is likely that the Child Protection Act 2004 will apply to your situation. In a court situation, the judge must listen and consider your point of view before deciding who has guardianship over you. Because, according to the law, your well-being and well-being are the most important factors that the Court must keep in mind when making these decisions.

However, most disputes do not end up in court because it is a very time-consuming, expensive and stressful process. Parents` rights and obligations From what age can I be home alone? When can I babysit other children? What do my parents or guardians need to care for me if I am under 16? Can my parents decide where I live? My basic needs are not being met at home, what can I do? Who is my guardian? What does it mean to be a caretaker? How long does guardianship last? Can I make my own decisions about my life? When can I make my own decisions? Can I appeal my guardian`s decisions before the age of 18? There are three main concepts to understand in the Child Protection Act regarding child custody and your legal rights and obligations. These are “guardianship”, “care” and “contacts”. A guardian is a person who legally has all the duties, rights, responsibilities and powers that a parent has in the upbringing of a child. The definition of guardianship in the Child Protection Act emphasizes parental responsibility rather than rights – the responsibility to provide daily care and contribute to the healthy development of the child. The “rights” you have as a guardian include decisions about the child`s name, education, religion, medical treatment and place of residence. “Powers” include the power to make applications to the court on matters concerning the child and the power to assert your rights in the area of day-to-day care. Except in the rare cases where the court has annulled the guardianship, a mother is always guardian, and for a child born after 1. July 2005, a biological father is a guardian if he was married, in a civil partnership or in a de facto relationship between conception and the birth of the child.

or his name appears on the birth certificate as the father of the child. A grandparent or whānau guardian does not have the legal status of guardian of the child unless granted by the court. Please note that if you have the children in your care under an informal custody arrangement and you have not been appointed by the court as an additional guardian, you will not be able to make legal guardianship decisions for the child. For example, without the consent of the children`s legal guardians, you cannot legally consent to medical treatment, take the children abroad, or make any other decision of the guardian. In most cases, this will be the parents, but in some cases, guardianship may fall to the Chief Executive of Oranga Tamariki. See below for more information on this case. If you want the children to be in your care for a long time, you must apply to the family court for parenting orders and additional guardianship of the children. Guardianship may be obtained under the Child Protection Act 2004 or the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989, and it is customary for a grandparent or Whānau caregiver to apply for additional guardianship at the same time as an application for a parental order for the day-to-day care of the child.

When Oranga Tamariki is involved, the resolution of care issues can be done in different ways: these pathways can be the Hui-ā-Whānau process, a family group conference, or in cases that require an emergency or there are significant custody and protection concerns, Oranga Tamariki can apply for custody and guardianship orders in court. If the Chief Executive Officer of Oranga Tamariki is appointed as the child`s guardian, it means that the child is in the care of the State. For more information or if you need help or advice on these matters, please contact us on 0800 472 637 for a referral to one of our lawyers. A guardian has the right of guardianship over a child. Guardianship is a legal term for the rights and duties of an adult with regard to the upbringing of a child. These include: Learn more about guardianship and children`s rights Parents and guardians of children studying in New Zealand can travel to New Zealand to live with and care for their children. From the age of 18, your parents` guardianship rights over you end. You can now make important decisions for yourself, even if those decisions are different from what your parents would like. It`s a good idea to always seek advice from your parents or others you trust and respect when making important decisions. A legal guardian is an adult who is responsible for the upbringing and care of a child.

Guardians have the same responsibilities as biological parents. Parent assignments are also called maintenance and contact orders. Parenting orders are made by a family or district judge after deciding an application for a parenting order. The process of retrieving an order can follow several paths. Some orders are made on an “interim” basis, which usually means that a final hearing should be held to determine custody and contact arrangements for the child in the long term. The “interim” order is issued to provide stability and certainty as to who has legal rights and obligations for the child in the meantime. A parent can name someone in their will (or other official legal document) as their testamentary guardian if the parent dies. The role of a testamentary guardian is similar to that of the child`s other guardians, except that they are not entitled to the day-to-day care of the child. The High Court or Family Court may sometimes appoint itself as the legal guardian of a child.

The court usually appoints Oranga Tamariki as guardian as the representative of the court. People who can ask the court to do this are: Generally, your parents are your legal guardians, even if they are not together. Your mother is automatically guardian, while your father can be guardian, depending on his relationship with your mother at the time of your birth. It may be helpful to talk to a guardianship lawyer. If you cannot afford a lawyer, you: If your basic needs are not met at home or if you are a victim of physical, emotional or sexual abuse, you can contact the Ministry of Children – Oranga Tamariki (OT). The occupational therapist can arrange for you to stay with foster parents or an occupational therapy residence if, after the exam, they determine that you are not in a safe environment. There is no guarantee where OT will place you or how long they will place you somewhere, but they are responsible for bringing you to a safe environment. Your guardians often make many decisions on your behalf while you live with them.

Depending on your age and maturity, your parents should think about how you feel about the important things in your life and encourage you to participate in decisions. The well-being and well-being of you should be the most important consideration. It`s important to remember that your tutors often make good decisions for you, even if you don`t always agree with them. You can also contact the police or organizations such as Women`s Refuge, Shine, and Shakti. If you need help filling out the forms, you can call us or go to your local family court. A child`s parents are usually automatically guardians, but people other than the child`s parents can also become guardians. Guardians have the same responsibilities as parents. To meet your needs, your parents can decide where you live while you are under 16. Your parents may decide that you should live with someone else, or you may agree with your parents that you will live with someone else if it works better for your situation. However, in these situations, your parents are still financially responsible for you, so they must pay to meet your needs, unless the people caring for you have agreed to pay for your needs.

Learn more about guardian duties As a parent or guardian, you work with others to make decisions about your children. This includes decisions about their schools, health care, religion, culture and language, and where they live. He is free to apply to be a guardian of a child or to ask the family court to prevent a person from being a guardian. “Contact” (access) defines who, when and how a child spends time with parents or other guardians when they are not part of their daily life. For more information on the types of parenting orders that can be made, visit the Department of Family Justice website. Guardianship lasts until age 18 or until you get married, enter into a registered partnership, or live with someone as a common-law partner. However, as you get older, your opinions should carry more weight and you should have a say in the important issues in your life. In the case of grandparents and whānau, there were frequent allegations of violence or abuse, and the court ruled that parents can only have contact with children in a supervised environment.