Federal Magistrates Court of Australia

    Missing Children in Australia

    The names and identites of people involved in family law proceedings are restricted under Section 121 of the Family Law Act. The Federal Magistrates Court, however, sometimes issues publication orders that lift the restrictions. This is to assist in locating a child who has been involved in family law proceedings and has been taken from their parent (usually by the other parent).

    List of Current Missing Children

    Samantha Olivia Lahey

    Date of birth: 14 December 2005
    Date missing: 23 November 2007
    Sex: Female
    Hair - colour, length etc: Fair hair, medium length
    Eyes – colour: Blue eyes
    Complexion /ethnicity: Caucasian
    Any distinguishing features: Very excitable and energetic
    Description of last contact: Last seen Nearhos Street, Dalby, Qld, 4405 (Nov, 2007)

    Click here for more information about Samantha,

     

    Instructions

    For missing children to be listed on this site a judicial officer must have made an order permitting names and photographs to be released to the public in an effort to help find the child.

    If a child has been abducted you should seek urgent legal advice.

    Restrictions on reporting family law matters

    Section 121 of the Family Law Act 1975 makes it an offence, except in very limited circumstances, to publish proceedings that identify persons, associated persons or witnesses involved in family law proceedings. The section also extends the prohibition to the publication of any picture.

    Occasionally, the Federal Magistrates Court may make a Section 121 Publication Order under the Family Law Act. This allows the media to publish and broadcast information released by the court. Publication Orders are made in rare circumstances where the court is seeking the public's help in locating a missing child or children. Once a Publication Order has been lifted and Section 121 of the Family Law Act reinstated, no further information on the case can be published or broadcast.

    Section 97 of the Family Law Act 1975 provides that all proceedings in the court shall be heard in open unless the court decides otherwise.

    Links

Family Court of Australia

The Family Court of Australia also posts profiles of missing children on its web site. These profiles are of children when restrictions on the publishing of the child's details has been lifted by the Court.

International Child Abduction

If you want to know more about international child abduction look at the official Australian web site on International Child Abduction maintained by the Commonwealth Attorney-General's department.