Consultation with children is a delicate art, and consultation with vulnerable children, even more so. Experienced clinicians believe best practice in undertaking such work requires tertiary studies in social work or psychology combined with extensive supervised clinical experience. The current pathways to becoming a children’s lawyer in the Northern Territory do not involve mandatory training in child well-being, and yet lawyers are asked to consult with highly traumatised children and bring the voices of children into the courtroom. Lawyers for young children are additionally required to provide an opinion as to what they believe to be in the best interests of the child, without a social work or psychology-based qualification, training or in-depth guidelines to support their position. This article looks at what the law says about child consultation, what child development research says about child consultation and child consultation in practice in a Northern Territory child protection setting. At its conclusion, the author discusses potential pathways forward for lawyers and clinicians to work together in safe practices of child consultation.

中文翻译：

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澳大利亚北领地的儿童咨询和法律

咨询儿童是一门精致的艺术，咨询弱势儿童更是如此。经验丰富的临床医生认为，开展此类工作的最佳实践需要社会工作或心理学的高等教育研究以及广泛的监督临床经验。目前在北领地成为儿童律师的途径并不涉及儿童福祉方面的强制性培训，但要求律师咨询受严重创伤的儿童并将儿童的声音带入法庭。幼儿律师还需要就他们认为最符合儿童利益的事情提供意见，而无需社会工作或基于心理学的资格、培训或深入的指导来支持他们的立场。本文着眼于法律对儿童咨询的规定、儿童发展研究对儿童咨询的规定以及在北领地儿童保护环境中的实际儿童咨询。最后，作者讨论了律师和临床医生在儿童咨询的安全实践中合作的潜在途径。