The Family Relationship Advice Line
A national phone service for families dealing with relationship or separation issues, including parenting arrangements after separation. It can also refer callers to local services.
1800 050 321. Monday to Friday 8am to 8pm and Saturday 10am to 4pm, local time; closed Sundays and national public holidays. From overseas, +61 7 3423 6878, at the caller’s cost.
What a call can cover
- advice on separation issues and information about the family law system
- guidance on working out parenting arrangements that work
- how conflict between parents affects children
- referrals to Family Relationship Centres and other services, such as Centrelink, child support, legal, counselling or housing help
Summarised from Family Relationships Online.
Who can call, and privacy
- Anyone with a family relationship question, including parents, grandparents, young people, other relatives and friends.
- You do not have to give your full name, and you can choose to give no identifying details at all.
- Family and friends are not told that you called.
- Callers with a hearing or speech impairment can use the National Relay Service.
Summarised from Family Relationships Online.
The court adds that the line may be able to help with limited free legal advice. It can also help families dealing with violence or child abuse with assistance and referrals.
Legal Aid Queensland on parenting matters
Legal Aid Queensland publishes plain-language pages on parenting arrangements. For the changes to parenting law that took effect on 6 May 2024, see what the court must consider. Legal Aid Queensland’s page lists the times it suggests getting legal advice. In summary:
- when you or the children are at risk of harm
- before signing a parenting plan or consent orders, and before filing consent orders
- when going to court for a parenting order, or wanting to change an existing order
- when you and the other parent disagree about what is in the children’s best interests
- if feeling threatened or intimidated led you to sign a plan or consent orders against your wishes.
It also says it may give legal advice on family court processes, though not to someone who already has a solicitor representing them in the matter, and it points to community legal centres and to the Queensland Law Society, which can refer people to a private solicitor. How to reach its services is on its Get legal help page.
An online option for parents who agree
Legal Aid Queensland describes Amica as a secure online service developed by Legal Aid commissions to help separating couples make parenting arrangements and divide money and property, step by step. It notes Amica is not suitable for splitting superannuation.
More places to ask
Child support questions
Services Australia’s Child Support enquiry line, 131 272, Monday to Friday 8:30 am to 4:45 pm. It arranges interpreters for free.
Grandparents and other non-parent carers can ask for its Grandparent, Foster and Kinship Carer Advisers. The rules are in how child support is assessed.
Support for parents
Parentline is a confidential phone service giving counselling and support to parents and carers of children in Queensland and the Northern Territory: 1300 30 1300. Its opening hours are on its own page.
Support for the children
Kids Helpline offers free, confidential phone and online counselling, 24/7, for young people aged 5 to 25: 1800 55 1800.
The court runs Kids’ Corner, which explains the family courts to children directly.
Programs for children after separation
The Attorney-General’s Department says community organisations deliver the Supporting Children after Separation Program, which helps children deal with their parents’ separation and take part in decisions that affect them, and children’s contact services, which help children see the other parent when there are safety concerns. It points to the Family Relationship Advice Line for both.
Worried about a child’s wellbeing
The Queensland Government says anyone, including parents, grandparents and young people, can contact Family and Child Connect for advice and information, a free service from local organisations.
Information for parents
The department’s parenting plans fact sheet notes that the Australian Government funds the Raising Children Network, which has information for parents.
For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families
A family court deciding arrangements for an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander child must consider the child’s right to enjoy their culture, as what the court must consider sets out.
Legal Aid Queensland runs an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Information Line on 1300 65 01 43.
A note of respect. Legal Aid Queensland begins its page on cultural recognition orders by telling Torres Strait Islander readers that it may hold sensitive details of a sacred practice protected under Ailan Kastom, and that it does not encourage children to read it without a parent or guardian present. The paragraph below summarises that page.
Queensland also has a law of its own here. Under Queensland’s Meriba Omasker Kaziw Kazipa (Torres Strait Islander Traditional Child Rearing Practice) Act, passed in 2020, the Ailan Kastom child rearing practice can be legally recognised. Legal Aid Queensland explains that a cultural recognition order permanently transfers legal parental rights and responsibilities from birth parents to cultural parents, and that a Torres Strait Islander adult who was gifted as a child, or a birth or cultural parent in the practice, can apply. It suggests starting with the Office of the Commissioner Meriba Omasker Kaziw Kazipa.
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