Actions against Department of Community Services (DOCS) and NSW Government

Action against Department of Community Services (DOCS) and other government instrumentalities both state and federal

Government bodies are expected to exercise reasonable skill care and consideration in their approach when dealing with children and families. Actions undertaken by the Department of Community Services must be done so in an ethical, professional and compassionate manner.

Often our firm comes across situations where innocent people are targeted by these government instrumentalists and decisions are made with far reaching consequences including removing children from their family environment and placing them with uncaring foster parents or charging parents with criminal offences such as abuse of their children, neglect of children and/or suffering from unsupported psychiatric aliments including personality disorder allegedly arguing that the parent is unfit to retain the children.

On many occasions we can assist in mounting a claim against the government department for the return of the children and a claim for damages due inappropriate action on behalf of D.O.C.S.  We will need full details of the psychiatric and family histories of the parents and this should ultimately be supported by medical reports from psychiatrists / psychologists attesting to the stable state of mind of the parents.

What damages are recoverable?

Damages traditionally awarded by the courts are known as common law damages. The general principle for awarding losses is that the claimant should be restored by an amount which would put him/her into the same position had the negligence not occurred.