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CHILDREN'S GUARDIAN ACT 2019 - SCHEDULE 3A

SCHEDULE 3A – Accreditation of designated agencies

section 72

Part 1 - Preliminary

1 Definitions

In this Schedule--

"accreditation criteria" --see clause 2(1).

"agency" means--

(a) a government agency or part of a government agency, or
(b) an organisation or part of an organisation.

"grant" accreditation includes grant a renewal of accreditation.

"suitable to be accredited" --see clause 3.

2 Accreditation criteria

(1) The Minister may, on the recommendation of the Children's Guardian, approve criteria (
"accreditation criteria" ) to be met by designated agencies.
(2) Different criteria may be approved for different classes of agencies.
(3) The criteria must address the following--
(a) the assessment by an agency of a person's suitability to be a carer (a
"relevant authorised carer" ) who is authorised to provide statutory out-of-home care or supported out-of-home care in the carer's home,
(b) the provision of training by an agency to relevant authorised carers,
(c) the supervision of relevant authorised carers by an agency,
(d) the involvement of the following persons in the making of decisions that affect a child--
(i) the child,
(ii) persons with parental responsibility for the child immediately before the child entered out-of-home care,
(iii) the authorised carer of the child,
(e) anything else prescribed by the regulations.
(4) The Children's Guardian must publish criteria approved under this clause on a website of the Office of the Children's Guardian.
(5) The Children's Guardian may come to the opinion that an agency meets a particular accreditation criterion if--
(a) an entity is of the opinion that the agency meets a criterion, and
(b) the Children's Guardian is satisfied that the criterion is equivalent to the accreditation criterion, and
(c) the Children's Guardian recognises the entity for the purposes of this clause.
(6) The Children's Guardian must publish a notice setting out entities recognised for the purposes of this clause on a website of the Office of the Children's Guardian.
(7) Failure to publish criteria under subclause (4) or a notice under subclause (6) does not affect the validity of--
(a) the criteria or the entities recognised, or
(b) a decision made in relation to the criteria or recognition.

3 Grounds for finding that agency is not suitable to be accredited

(1) An agency is not
"suitable to be accredited" if--
(a) the agency is disqualified from being accredited, or
(b) the agency does not wholly or substantially meet the accreditation criteria, or
(c) the Children's Guardian is of the opinion that the agency is not suitable to be a designated agency.
(2) The Children's Guardian may form an opinion that an agency is not suitable to be a designated agency in one or more of the following circumstances--
(a) the agency, or the principal officer of the agency, failed to comply with the children's care legislation,
(b) the agency failed to comply with a condition of its accreditation,
(c) the agency, or the principal officer of the agency, made a statement or gave information in connection with the administration of the children's care legislation knowing the statement of information was false or misleading in a material particular,
(d) another circumstance prescribed by the regulations.
(3) In this clause--

"children's care legislation" means the following Acts and the regulations under the Acts--
(a) this Act,
(b) the Children and Young Persons (Care and Protection) Act 1998 ,
(c) the Child Protection (Working with Children) Act 2012 .

Part 2 - Application for accreditation

4 Application for grant of accreditation

(1) An agency may apply to the Children's Guardian to grant accreditation as a designated agency.
Note--: The definition of
"grant" of accreditation in clause 1 includes grant a renewal of accreditation.
(2) An application must--
(a) be in a form approved by the Children's Guardian, and
(b) include or be accompanied by information or evidence the Children's Guardian reasonably requires to assess the application, and
(c) include or be accompanied by other information prescribed by the regulations.
(3) If the Children's Guardian considers it necessary, the Children's Guardian may require further documents or information to be provided by the applicant.
(4) The holder of a provisional accreditation that gives a notice under clause 15 is taken to have made an application for full accreditation 12 months after the notice is given.
(5) If an application for the grant of accreditation is made to the Children's Guardian before the expiry of an existing accreditation held by the applicant, the existing accreditation continues in force until the Children's Guardian notifies the applicant of a decision to grant or refuse the application.

5 Withdrawal of application

(1) An applicant may withdraw an application for a grant of accreditation.
(2) The Children's Guardian may require the withdrawal not to occur until a date decided by the Children's Guardian (the
"withdrawal date" ).
(3) The withdrawal date may be up to 6 months after the applicant applies to withdraw the application.
(4) The applicant's accreditation remains in force until the withdrawal date.
(5) In deciding on a withdrawal date, the Children's Guardian must consider the safety, welfare and wellbeing of children who may be affected by the decision.

6 Grant or refusal of accreditation

(1) The Children's Guardian may grant or refuse accreditation to an applicant.
(2) The Children's Guardian may refuse to grant accreditation--
(a) if the application for accreditation does not comply with a requirement imposed by or under this Act, or
(b) on a ground prescribed by the regulations.
(3) The Children's Guardian must refuse to grant accreditation if the applicant is not suitable to be accredited unless the Children's Guardian defers its decision under clause 7.
(4) The Children's Guardian must give the applicant written notice of a decision to grant or refuse accreditation.
(5) The notice must include any matter prescribed by the regulations.

7 Deferral of decision to grant or refuse accreditation

(1) The Children's Guardian may defer its decision on whether to grant or refuse accreditation to an applicant if--
(a) the applicant does not meet the accreditation criteria, and
(b) the applicant has submitted an action plan to the Children's Guardian, and
(c) the Children's Guardian is satisfied the applicant will meet the accreditation criteria if the applicant implements the action plan.
(2) The Children's Guardian must give the applicant written notice of the deferral that sets out the period for which the decision is to be deferred.
(3) A deferral period must not be more than 12 months.
(4) More than one deferral may occur under this clause but the total period of the deferrals must not be more than 24 months.
(5) If a decision to grant or refuse accreditation to an applicant is not made by the end of the period of the deferrals, the application is taken to have been refused.

8 Action plans

(1) An action plan submitted under clause 7 must set out the steps the applicant proposes to take to ensure the applicant satisfies the accreditation criteria.
(2) An applicant that submits an action plan must undertake to implement the action plan.
(3) An applicant may, with the agreement of the Children's Guardian, amend an action plan.

9 Review of decision to refuse accreditation

(1) The Children's Guardian may review its decision to refuse accreditation to an applicant.
(2) The Children's Guardian may obtain additional information from the applicant as part of the review.
(3) The Children's Guardian must conduct the review as if it were an application for a grant of accreditation.
(4) The Children's Guardian is not required to conduct a review under this clause.

10 Full or provisional accreditation

If the Children's Guardian decides to grant accreditation, the accreditation is--

(a) if the applicant has provided out-of-home care in accordance with this Act and the regulations within 12 months before the decision--full accreditation, or
(b) otherwise--provisional accreditation.

11 Duration of accreditation

(1) Accreditation remains in force for the period specified by the Children's Guardian in the notice by which the accreditation is granted, unless sooner cancelled or shortened.
(2) The maximum period that may be specified is--
(a) for full accreditation granted immediately after the holder previously held full accreditation--5 years, or
(b) otherwise--3 years.
(3) If the applicant is also an adoption service provider accredited under Schedule 3B, the period of accreditation may be adjusted by the Children's Guardian so that each accreditation period ends at the same time.
(4) The Children's Guardian may, despite any other provision of this Schedule, extend the period of an accreditation in circumstances prescribed by the regulations.

Part 3 - Conditions of accreditation

12 Conditions of accreditation

(1) An accreditation is subject to the following conditions--
(a) conditions prescribed by this Act or the regulations,
(b) conditions imposed by the Children's Guardian.
(2) The Children's Guardian may impose conditions on an accreditation--
(a) at the time of the grant of accreditation, or
(b) at another time by varying the conditions of the accreditation under clause 13.
(3) A provision of this Act that authorises a type of condition to be imposed on an accreditation does not prevent other types of conditions being imposed, or limit the matters that may be provided for by conditions, unless expressly provided for by this Act.
(4) The Children's Guardian must not impose a condition on the accreditation of a government agency or part of a government agency unless the Children's Guardian has first notified the Minister about why the condition is considered necessary.

13 Variation of conditions of accreditation

(1) The Children's Guardian may, at any time, by written notice to an accreditation holder, vary the conditions of the accreditation imposed by the Children's Guardian.
(2) A variation includes the following--
(a) the imposition of a new condition,
(b) the substitution of a condition,
(c) the removal of a condition,
(d) the amendment of a condition.

14 Condition requiring compliance with accreditation criteria

The Children's Guardian must impose a condition on accreditation requiring the holder of the accreditation to wholly meet the accreditation criteria within 12 months if--

(a) the Children's Guardian grants accreditation to the holder, and
(b) the Children's Guardian is of the opinion the holder substantially meets the accreditation criteria but does not wholly meet the criteria.

15 Condition of provisional accreditation

It is a condition of a provisional accreditation that the holder of the accreditation give written notice to the Children's Guardian as soon as practicable after the holder first makes arrangements for the provision of out-of-home care under the accreditation.

Part 4 - Transfer and surrender of accreditation

16 Transfer of accreditation

The Children's Guardian may transfer the accreditation of an agency (the
"former agency" ) to another agency (the
"new agency" ) if satisfied that--

(a) because of a restructure involving the former agency, the new agency will be exercising the designated agency functions previously exercised by the former agency, or
(b) the former agency has been merged with, or acquired by, the new agency, or
(c) the accreditation should be transferred because of circumstances prescribed by the regulations.

17 Surrender of accreditation

(1) The holder of an accreditation may surrender the accreditation.
(2) The Children's Guardian may require the surrender not to occur until a date decided by the Children's Guardian not more than 6 months after the holder applies to surrender the accreditation.
(3) In deciding on a date, the Children's Guardian must consider the safety, welfare and wellbeing of children who may be affected by the decision.
(4) A failure by the holder to apply to renew accreditation is taken to be an application to surrender an accreditation except as provided by the regulations.
(5) An accreditation remains in force until the date decided by the Children's Guardian under subclause (2).

Part 5 - Cancelling or shortening period of accreditation

18 Grounds for cancelling or shortening period of accreditation

Each of the following constitutes grounds for cancelling or shortening the period of an accreditation--

(a) the holder of the accreditation is not suitable to be accredited,
(b) the accreditation was granted in error,
(c) a ground prescribed by the regulations.

19 How accreditation is cancelled or shortened

(1) The Children's Guardian may, by written notice given to the holder of an accreditation, cancel or shorten the period of the accreditation if the Children's Guardian is satisfied there are grounds for the cancellation or shortening.
(2) A notice cancelling an accreditation must specify--
(a) the date or time from which cancellation takes effect, and
(b) the grounds for the cancellation.
(3) A notice shortening the period of an accreditation must specify--
(a) the date on which the shortened accreditation will cease to have effect, and
(b) the grounds for the shortening of the period of accreditation.
(4) The Children's Guardian may, by further written notice given to the holder of an accreditation while the accreditation is in force, amend or revoke a notice cancelling or shortening the period of the accreditation.
(5) The Children's Guardian must not cancel the accreditation of a government agency or part of a government agency unless the Children's Guardian has first notified the Minister about why the cancellation is considered necessary.

20 Disqualification if cancelled

If an accreditation is cancelled, the holder of the accreditation is disqualified from being accredited for 2 years after the cancellation takes effect.

Part 6 - Regulations

21 Regulations about accreditation

Regulations may be made about accreditation, including the following--

(a) applications for accreditation,
(b) the withdrawal of applications,
(c) the deferral of decisions and the obligations the Children's Guardian may impose on an applicant during the period of the deferral,
(d) conditions of accreditation and applications for variation of conditions of accreditation,
(e) transfers of accreditation,
(f) surrenders of accreditation.



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