WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people should be aware that this story contains the image and name of a deceased Indigenous person.
The Northern Territory Government has unveiled a landmark legislative overhaul aimed at giving caseworkers more powers to remove vulnerable children, with the Bill asserting that a child’s race or cultural background can no longer be a reason to leave them in an unsafe situation.
The Care and Protection of Children (Every Child Matters) Amendment Bill 2026, introduced to NT Parliament on Wednesday, aims to strengthen parental accountability and earlier intervention for vulnerable children at risk, marking one of the most significant reforms to the NT’s child protection legislative framework.
The amendments to the 2007 legislation follow the death of Kumanjayi Little Baby, who was allegedly kidnapped and murdered at an Alice Springs town camp. Prior to her death, she had been the subject of six child protection notices. Three child protection caseworkers from the Northern Territory’s Department of Children and Families were suspended from their roles in connection with the case.
A cornerstone of the new legislation is the explicit declaration that the best interests and safety of the child are the overriding principle in all decisions, taking precedence over all other considerations.
Protection from harm and ensuring a child’s safety are now the priority considerations within the hierarchy of best interests factors.
The reform addresses the Aboriginal Child Placement Principle (ACPP) in the current Act, which the Government said is a “fundamental and serious flaw: it makes no mention of the safety of the child”.
Under the current law, placement decisions for Aboriginal children have been guided by cultural and kinship preferences, without an explicit requirement to weigh the child’s safety as a priority consideration.
The Government says the Bill corrects that deficiency.
The ACPP is replaced with a universal placement principle that applies equally to all children, in which the child’s safety and best interests are the paramount consideration, with cultural and family placement preferences remaining relevant but subordinate to safety.
The Bill asserts that a child’s race or cultural background cannot be a reason to leave them in an unsafe situation.
The legislation introduces new early intervention mechanisms, including Family Responsibility Agreements (FRAs). These enable the CEO of the Department to invite parents to enter into voluntary agreements to address child welfare concerns before they reach the threshold for statutory intervention.
FRAs can include requirements around supervision, school attendance, counselling, and engagement with support services, with their duration capped at 12 months.
Where parents refuse to engage with FRAs or fail to comply, the CEO can apply to the Court for binding Family Responsibility Orders (FROs). Courts can also impose these orders on their own initiative. FROs can include income management, banned drinker orders, and restricted premises applications, providing a formal escalation pathway short of removing a child.
To address the issue of children remaining in “permanent limbo” within the care system, the Bill introduces a proactive efforts framework.
It establishes a legislative requirement for the CEO to take proactive steps to address risks to children and, where a child has been removed, to actively pursue reunification or an alternative permanent placement within two years, with intensive efforts required in the first six months.
The Bill highlights that under the current Act, there is no legislative time frame or obligation to drive toward permanency for a child in care, which has led to hundreds of Territory children experiencing prolonged instability and multiple placements.
This reform aims to impose a legal obligation on the CEO to act decisively and within defined time frames to achieve either reunification or an alternative permanent arrangement, ensuring children are not left in indefinite legal uncertainty.
Further reforms include restricting courts to a maximum of two short-term parental responsibility orders per child, with additional orders only permissible where there is a high probability of reunification.
This directly addresses the pattern of children being trapped on rolling short-term orders for years, without resolution or permanency. Additionally, the Bill mandates stronger legal representation for children in long-term child protection proceedings, unless they have made an informed and independent decision not to be, ensuring their voices are heard in decisions that determine their future.
The NT Government says the reforms directly respond to longstanding failures in the child protection system, including a cultural reluctance to remove children from family settings, the absence of a structured early intervention pathway, and the system’s failure to deliver permanency and stability for children already in care.
NT Child Protection Minister Robyn Cahill told news.com.au “these landmark amendments are designed to put the safety of all Territorian children at the heart of our child protection framework. The Safety of every child must come first. It is a basic human right that a child is safe.”
