Different views? Children's lawyers and children's participation in protective proceedings in New South Wales, Australia

Fierce debates about the appropriate role of children’s lawyers in child protection have erupted in Australia and overseas since the 1990s, with different models of legal representation for children incorporated into legislation. Given the pace of change and the variety of arrangements in Australia, there has been surprisingly little research into how lawyers think about these roles or put them into practice. This article examines how children’s lawyers in the New South Wales child protection system think about their practice and formulate their approach to the representation of children, with reference to their contact with children. It reports on the findings of a qualitative study undertaken in 2006 that asked 21 lawyers how they work with children and how they think about children’s participation. Lawyers reported that they represented children in very different ways, reflecting ambiguity about how to interpret these roles and involve children as clients or the subject of best interests representation. The author argues that an integral aspect of the lawyers’ role is to ensure that children are heard by the court, but that more needs to be done to ensure this is carried out in practice.