### SUMMARY

- • Where a student under the age of 18 asks to make a decision instead of their parent or carer, principals or others working with students in schools can decide that the student is capable of making their own decision i.e. that they are a mature minor for the purpose of making a particular decision
- • To be considered a mature minor, principals or others working with students must be satisfied that the student has sufficient maturity, understanding and intelligence to understand the nature and effect of their particular decision
- • A student can be considered capable of making some decisions but not others.

### DETAILS

The Department of Education Victoria and Melba College recognises that parents and carers play an invaluable role in supporting a child’s learning and wellbeing through being actively informed and involved from the early years through adolescence. Notwithstanding this, for a variety of reasons students under the age of 18 years sometimes ask to make decisions on their on behalf without the involvement of their parents or carers. For example, engaging with a health practitioner or allied health professional or going on an excursion. The law recognises that as children become older and more mature, they are more capable of making their own decisions about a wide range of issues including decisions about their education, healthcare and wellbeing. The law recognises that a young person may reach this stage before they are 18 years old, but there is no specific age when a young person may be sufficiently mature and capable of making their own decision. These young people are referred to as ‘mature minors’. When responding to a request from a student to make a decision on their own behalf, principals or other professionals working with students in schools must make as assessment as to whether a child has sufficient maturity, understanding and intelligence to understand the nature and effect of a particular decision. In making this decision, the College Principal and other professionals can take into account:

- • Knowledge of the conversations with the student
- • The student’s age, level of maturity for their age and their understanding of the issues and consequences of their proposed decision
- • The student’s living arrangements and independence (for example if they are not living with their parents)
- • The student’s previous academic results/school reports
- • The views of members of the College leadership team, relevant teaching staff, school welfare staff, Student Support Services (SSS) staff or an external health professionals treating or working with the student
- • Whether or not another professional working with the student has decided that the student is capable of making other decisions for themselves
- • Whether, and if not why, the student will inform their parents/carers before or after making the decision
- • Whether it is in the student’s best interest to make the decision with or without parent/carer consent

The College Principal or other professionals working with a student may decide that a student is a mature minor for some decisions but others. For example, the College Principal may decide that a student is a mature minor for the purpose of consenting to a referral for SSS, but that does not