This Act may be cited as the Child Welfare Amendment Act 1961, and shall be read together with and deemed part of the Child Welfare Act 1925¹ (hereinafter referred to as the principal Act).

This Act shall come into force on the first day of December, nineteen hundred and sixty-one.

Where an order has been made under the principal Act committing any child to the care of the Superintendent, the child or a parent of that child or the person who would be his guardian if he were not under the care of the Superintendent or the person who had the custody or control of the child immediately before the order was made may, at any time after the expiration of twelve months from the date of the making of the order, request the Superintendent in writing to discharge the inmate under section 23 of the principal Act and, if that request is refused, may then apply to a Children’s Court for a review of the committal order, and on any such application the Court may, as it thinks proper, having regard to the reasons for committal, the environment in which it is proposed that the child shall live, and any other circumstances of the case, either:

Provided that where an application under this section is refused a further application for a review of the order shall not be entertained unless twelve months have elapsed since the date of the refusal and unless the application has been preceded by a further request to the Superintendent to discharge the inmate under section 23 of the principal Act.

Where an order has been made under the principal Act placing a child under the supervision of a Child Welfare Officer for a fixed period, the Child Welfare Officer who has that child under his supervision for the time being or the child or a parent of the child or his guardian or the person who had custody or control of the child immediately before the order was made, may apply to a Children’s Court for the review of that order, and on any such application the Court may, as it thinks proper:

Provided that, where any application made under this section by a person other than a Child Welfare Officer is refused, a further application under this section shall not be entertained from a person other than a Child Welfare Officer if made within six months after the date of the refusal.

Where a Children’s Court, acting under section 31 of the principal Act, or a Judge of the Supreme Court, acting under section 25 of the Child Welfare Amendment Act 1927, places any child under the supervision of a Child Welfare Officer, the Court or Judge may at the same time order that when the child attains the age of seventeen years he shall cease to be under the supervision of a Child Welfare Officer and shall thenceforth be on probation for a period specified by the Court, being a period of not less than one year nor more than two years.

Where a Court or Judge has ordered, under subsection (1) of this section, that any person shall be on probation,—

The making of an order under subsection (1) of this section in respect of any child shall not prevent the supervision order relating to that child being reviewed under section 3 of this Act while that child is still under the supervision of a Child Welfare Officer, and, if on any such review that supervision order is cancelled, then the order made under subsection (1) of this section shall be deemed to be cancelled.

Where a Children’s Court, acting under section 31 of the principal Act, or a Judge of the Supreme Court, acting under section 25 of the Child Welfare Amendment Act 1927, has placed a child under the supervision of a Child Welfare Officer, the Child Welfare Officer who has that child under his supervision for the time being may apply to a Children’s Court for the cancellation of the supervision order and the substitution therefor of an order placing the person on probation for a period specified by the Court, being a period of not less than one year nor more than two years, and on any such application the Court may, as it thinks proper, having regard to the behaviour of the person while he has been under the supervision of a Child Welfare Officer and any other circumstances of the case, either grant or refuse the application.

Every order under this section cancelling a supervision order and placing a person on probation shall take effect on the day on which it is made.

Where any order is made under this section, the Registrar of the Court shall notify the Secretary for Justice and the probation officer in whose district the Court office is situated.

Whenever any person is ordered to be on probation under this Act, the conditions set out in section 7 of the Criminal Justice Act 1954, except paragraph (a) of that section, shall apply, in addition to any special conditions imposed under section 7 of this Act.

In addition to the conditions specified in subsection (1) of this section, any person on probation under this Act shall be subject to the condition that he shall report to a probation officer in the district in which he resides within forty-eight hours after the commencement of his term of probation.

Every person on probation under this Act shall be under the supervision of a probation officer in whose district he resides for the time being, or such other probation officer as the Secretary for Justice may direct.

The probation officer shall issue to every person on probation under this Act a probationary licence setting out the conditions which he is required to observe during the term of his probation.

Where the Court orders that any person be on probation under this Act, the Court may in its discretion impose all or any of the conditions specified in paragraphs (e) to (i) of subsection (1) of section 8 of the Criminal Justice Act 1954.

Sections 9, 10, 12, and 13 of the Criminal Justice Act 1954 shall apply to every person on probation under this Act with all necessary modifications as if he had been released on probation on the day on which the term of his probation began, including the following specific modifications, namely, that every application under the said section 9 as applied by this section shall be made to a Magistrate’s Court or a Children’s Court, as the age of the person may require, and that the term of probation of every such person shall not be extended beyond the end of two years from the date on which the term began.

Where any application is made under section 2 or section 3 of this Act by a person other than a Child Welfare Officer, the person making the application shall give written notice of the application to the Superintendent:

Provided that the Court may at any time require the person making the application to give written notice of the application to such other persons as it thinks fit.

Where any application is made under section 3 or section 5 of this Act by a Child Welfare Officer, he shall give written notice of the application to such of the following persons as he thinks fit:

Provided that the Court may at any time require the Child Welfare Officer to give written notice of the application to such of those persons as it thinks fit:

Provided also that, in the case of an application under section 5 of this Act, written notice of the application shall be given in every such case to the person to whom the application relates.

Every person who is given notice of any application under section 2 or section 3 or section 5 of this Act pursuant to the provisions of subsection (1) or subsection (2) of this section shall be entitled to appear, either in person or by counsel, and to be heard and to tender evidence on any matter relevant to the application.

The principal Act is hereby consequentially amended in the manner indicated in the Schedule to this Act.

Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in section 29 of the principal Act, no proceedings relating to a charge for any traffic offence brought against a child or any other person shall be heard in a Children’s Court unless the offence is punishable by imprisonment, but all such proceedings shall be taken and heard as if a Children’s Court had not been established.

In this section the term “traffic offence” means an offence against the Transport Act 1949 or against any regulation or by law made under that Act and any offence against any regulation or bylaw made under any other enactment, it in this latter case, the offence relates to the use of vehicles or parking places or transport stations.