n South African Law Journal - Paper tigers no more : the new penalties jurisdiction for children's courts : notes

Abstract

Children's courts are creatures of statute. Their jurisdiction is strictly governed by legislation. They provide a network of specialised fora for legal decision-making on, primarily, temporary or permanent care and protection measures for children. In a country with challenging social problems, the work of children's courts is clearly of vital importance. Until recently the most important governing statute was the Child Care Act 74 of 1983 (hereinafter 'the 1983 Act'). This did not expressly empower children's courts to enforce or even review the effectiveness of their orders. Recently the 1983 Act was replaced by the Children's Act 38 of 2005 (hereinafter 'the 2005 Act').