Corporate Services News

A word from the CEO

A number of submissions have

been lodged since the last

newsletter including:

Senate Inquiry into Domestic

Violence

- Senate Inquiry into Out of

Home Care (and Senate Inquiry

attended)

- Inquiry into the Functions

Exercised by the Commissioner

for Children and Young People

- Submission to the Department

for Child Protection and Family

Support Out of Home Care:

Strategic Directions in Western

Australia 2015-2020 Discussion

Paper

AFLS continues to provide

consultation where appropriate

on issues facing our clients.

Violence Unit) who discussed

matters of policy and process,

and the challenges we have in

working together in the

regions. These sessions gave

rise to further opportunities

for collaborative working

relationships which will lead to

improved outcomes for

families.

The final day of the workshop

g a ve a l l r e g ion s t h e

opportunity to present on the

programs currently running in

their regions. This day

demonstrated the creativity

and innovation of staff, and

their determination to provide

quality services to clients in

their regions.

The workshop coincided with

the launch of the Ochre

Ribbon Campaign (see page 2).

Since the last newsletter Aboriginal Family law

Services (AFLS) has been very active with

preparing submissions for the various inquiries

both at a National and State level.

These inquiries have taken a lot of research to

ensure information will add value to the

strategic direction and operations of the AFLS.

Staffing continues to operate at 100% capacity,

with 27 seven staff members covering an area

that takes up 40% of the state, which is a great

achievement.

This is also an indication of the dedication by

staff wanting to make a difference in such a

crucial and sensitive area.

The AFLS has been successful with part of the

submission for funds under the Indigenous

Advancement Strategy (IAS). Part of the

submission identified the need to expand the

service to cover an additional four (4) regions,

however this was unsuccessful.

However we are pleased the areas that the AFLS

continues to service has received funding for a

period of three years.

We currently have six Board Directors and one

vacancy due to the resignation of a Director. This

position will not be filled until the next General

Meeting.

The Chairperson of the Board is Josephine

Maxted and the Vice Chairperson is Philomena

Bradfield, both will be extremely valued when

progressing the AFLS strategic plan and inputting

into future direction of the AFLS.

There are a number innovative community legal

education programs being implemented

throughout the service delivery areas by regional

staff. These programs have either been developed

by AFLS staff or programs developed by other

organisation’s that have proven to be effective.

- Mary Cowley, CEO

I N S I D E

T H I S I S S U E :

Perth 1

Broome 2

Carnarvon 3

Geraldton 4

Kalgoorlie 5

Kununurra 6

Port

Hedland

Whole of

Organization

7

8

In March the Regional

Coordinators and Community

Services Officers from each

office met in Perth for a 3 day

professional development

workshop. These roles are

crucial in each region for

ensuring the delivery of

programs which complement

legal services to clients such as

community legal education,

capacity building programs and

client support.

The first day was spent on

planning and evaluat ion

activities including budget

analysis. The schedule for the

second day included guest

speakers from the Department

from Child Protection and

Fam i l y Suppor t Mandy

G a d s t o n e ( A b o r i g i n a l

Engagement Unit) and Sherrilee

Mitchell (Family and Domestic

M A R C H 2 0 1 5

S P E C I A L

P O I N T S O F

I N T E R E S T :

Regional Updates

Ochre Ribbon

Launch

PLO Report

Job vacancies

The Dreamtime

Project

Safety Awareness

P A G E 2

In Perth on Wednesday 18 March,

AFLS launched the first of what it

hopes will be many events held

around the country shining the

light on the insidious issue of family

violence. The Ochre Ribbon Day

campaign is a national awareness

raising campaign to reduce family

violence in Aboriginal communities

and its devastating impacts on men,

women and children.

We see the impact of family

violence on our clients and their

children on a daily basis and

decided to develop this initiative to

bolster our efforts to prevent

violence in Aboriginal families and

our communities.

“Last year a young women died at

the hands of her violent partner in

one of our communities, and her

family asked for our assistance.

What stymied me was the lack of

awareness at a national level, for the

loss felt by this family and so many

others,” said Mary Cowley, AFLS

CEO. “Change can only happen if

we acknowledge what is happening

out here in the communities.”

“Our intention is to strengthen

other advances in in the prevention

of family and domestic violence by

other agencies and campaigns. The

vision of this initiative is safety and

wellbeing for everyone, an

investment in the future of our

children and our culture,” said Ms

Cowley. “We need to keep our

mothers safe, and our fathers out of

prison. And we need to prevent our

women from being perpetrators

too, perhaps out of retaliation.”

February 12 has been identified as

the Ochre Ribbon Day, and this day

will be commemorated from

2016.

Various stakeholders in this

campaign, including the National

Family Violence Legal Prevention

Services Forum, support us. We

have been encouraged by our

fellow FVPLS commitment to

holding Ochre Ribbon events in

their local communities

throughout the year, to maintain a

year round focus on family

violence.

The Dreamtime Project, a local

empowerment group for

Aboriginal women have also joined

us to spread the message. You can

find them on Facebook.

The regional AFLS offices are

currently organising their Ochre

Ribbon events so stay tuned for

events happening in your town.

Ochre Ribbon Day Launch

Don’t silence the violence. Speak up, and start making a difference

for your family and community.

P A G E 3

Below: ASO Beverley and participants from

the Women’s Centre Bidyadanga Aboriginal Community

Broome AFLS have

participated in a number

of local events in the last

half of last year. One of

the events we were

involved in was Mental

Health Week in October

in Broome. We had a

chance to promote our

s e r v i c e a t t h e

collaborative information

stall at the local shopping

We are happy to share that

in November 2014 we

were par t o f the

Bodyshop’s Christmas Gift

Giving Program and happily

received a donation of

products (including Brazil

Nut Soaps and Atlas Rose

Shower Gels) to use for

women who we support

over the Christmas period.

These donations were gift

wrapped and presented to

women who participated in

our programs, our clients

and a donation made to the

Broome Youth Support

Groups annual Christmas

Party for gifts for the young

girls attending their service.

centre and participate in

the Menta l Heal th

Wellness Day at Town

Beach. We had an

information stall, which

offered a coloring in

activity and a lucky dip for

the kids as well as the

SNAICC Children’s Day

activity backpacks that

were a huge hit. It was

also a chance to network

and promote

our new

H e a l i n g

H a n d s

program to

s e r v i c e

providers.

Goodbye Murray

Program Update The Broome AFLS office delivered its first

Healing Hands Pamper Program session in

October 2014 and in the six months since

commencing has averaged one session a month.

We have also visited peer support groups,

services as well as women’s groups in the

Aboriginal communities we attend during our

outreach trips. We are gearing up for another

busy six months with our program and plan to

deliver our program in all our

outreach locations as well as

the Broome area.

The Skudda Girlz of BGA

(Broome Girls Academy)

program was a collaborative

effort by AFLS Broome, Red

Cross Broome, Broome Girls Academy and

Broome Senior High School and Kimberley

Aboriginal Medical Services. The first program

was a 15 week program delivered to the target

group which was Indigenous female students

attending the BGA at Broome Senior High

School. Working in partnership with other

services made this program a successful one

and it will continue to run in 2015. The

program will be made up of two 10 week

programs delivered to Indigenous female

students from the BGA- Yr 7’s in Term 2 and

Yr 8’s in Term 3. The first session will start

o n 2 4

April.

Com

mun

ity E

ngag

emen

t

At the end of March, this year we farewelled one of our lawyers,

Murray Jones, who was with us in the Broome office for 9 months

commencing in July 2014. Prior to joining the Broome team Murray

was in the ALFS Carnarvon office. We wish Murray all the best in his

new position and for the future.

Below: CSO Yisah and Murray

at the Annual White Ribbon Gala

Ball in Broome

Broome

A B O R I G I N A L F A I L Y L A W S E R V I C E S ( W A )

Above: Banner created by students at BGA

Above: Broome AFLS team Maxine,

Beverley, Murray and Yisah

P A G E 4

Carnarvon

T o p r i g h t :

C a r r i e

Hannington

Carrie is our

Lawyer who has

been with us

since August

2014. Carrie’s

background is a

R e g i s t e r e d

Nurse for 20

years and has worked for both

Federal and State Governments

mainly in East Kimberley. Whilst at

AFLS Carrie’s casework in all areas

within the scope of AFLS and

undertaken client advice and court

appearances. She represented

clients in negotiations in care and

protection matters and assisted

them in the Family Court of WA.

Drop In Girls Space (D.I.G.S) Program The Drop In Girls Space (D.I.G.S) (pictured right) fosters a

whole community approach to supporting young women as they

develop with a key goal of ensuring that they mature and are

mentored in a safe and comfortable environment. The program is

based on the principle that mentoring young people is a

collective responsibility.

With this in mind, the Carnarvon PCYC will attempt to establish

partnerships between schools and training providers, business

and industry, community organisations, parents and families. The

Carnarvon PCYC encourages these groups to form locally

relevant partnerships that harness community resources and

share responsibility for young people’s learning and

development.

Involved in the program is the staff from the Remote School

Attendance Strategy, Soroptomist, Justice, AFLS and Jankukarna

Shark Bay Leadership This Leadership course (picture right) was for the young

girls/women. The program focused on the following core

modules:

Leadership, Team Building, Communication, Cultural

Awareness, Environmental Awareness, Safety, Active

Participation and Respect. All the young women enjoyed

the camp and appreciated the whole experience of being a

Leader that was driven by Darren Capewell.

Our service is continuing to grow with increased numbers.

During the Regional Coordinators leave, we could not take on

any new clients. Carrie was acting as the PLO for several

weeks which took her to Perth and Geraldton. Her schedule

was very busy and returning to Carnarvon attended court for

clients.

After the Christmas period up to January has been very quiet.

Sariya and the RC attended the RC/CSO workshop in Perth

where we met up with our colleagues across the State. This

gave us a chance to talk to colleagues face to face where

everyone was respectful of one another. The presentations

that were delivered were excellent. It’s a pleasure to work

with the young women and the leadership role that they play.

Thanks to Stephanie, Julie and Kelsie for organising the

workshop and to Mary and Perth staff.

We continue to collaborate with other government and non

government agencies to ensure that the needs of our

community and outreach services are met.

We were unable to deliver outreach to Burringurrah due to

floods and cyclone Olman. Once the road to Burringurrah is

open and safe to travel we will travel to Burringurrah.

Bottom right: Sariya Sambo

Sariya is our CSO who is a Wongutha Guburn woman from the Goldfields. Before

commencing work with AFLS Sariya worked in education, administration and on

mine sites as machinery operator. Sariya is open to all the challenges that face us.

Staff

City of Geraldton

Community Outreach

Below: Emus in bush on

road to Yalgoo

Regional Outreach

Geraldton

Over the last few months, our

Geraldton staff has been busy with

renewing connections in the community

and working to develop an

outreach program plan that better

services the region.

On a recent trip to Yalgoo was

The Regional Coordinator Michele

and Community Support Priscilla

met with service providers to

develop links and provided clients

with information about criminal

injuries claims.

On the road to Yalgoo there is a large

group of emus, perhaps a “resident”

family, observed over the years and of

varying ages. Altogether there are about

One of the activities our Geraldton team has

participated in, was a free BBQ on the Geraldton

Foreshore. Neil, our lawyer, happily took on the role of

chief cook. The “kanga bangers” were very successful.

We were joined by AFLS member Judy Musson;

members of the Midwest Yellow Ribbon for Life

group— a community based prevention of suicide

program; community members involved with the White

Ribbon Day March; and representatives from several

other agencies.

It was on this day that we learned to appreciate the

strength of the sea-breeze—the banners acted like sails.

A B O R I G I N A L F A M I L Y L A W S E R V I C E S ( W A )

10—you will

have to look close to see them (photo left)!!

The Wanggajimanha Family Fun Day, run

recently by GRAMS at the Nukara Farm was

a great success. AFLS staff ran a stall (below)

promoting legal and education services, as

well as the Ochre Ribbon Day campaign.

Our Geraldton Office team have been working with Kate McLeod—the

women's prison officer to increase the women’s understanding of family

and domestic violence. When we talked about White Ribbon Day, the

women expressed that they wanted to do something like it or to

participate somehow. Through discussions with the women and with

Kate, we came up with a banner. AFLS staff would take the banner to

the march and proudly display it. Helpers were very happy to hold the

banner and march in the main shopping

precinct of Geraldton city.

Another project done with the women was to talk about

family and strengths and then to paint onto some baby

singlet's that had been donated.

Working with Women in the Regional Prison

P A G E 5

Left: White

Ribbon Day

March

Against

Violence

Left: Volunteer Judy Musson, with the

Geraldton Office Regional Coordinator,

BBQ on the Geraldton

Foreshore

P A G E 6

Kalgoorlie The story behind the Ochre Ribbon

came about in July of 2014, when the

Kalgoorlie Aboriginal community

suffered the loss of a loved one in a

violent relationship.

The Staff decided something needed

to be done to recognize Aboriginal

family violence, because the White

Ribbon educates about gender

violence and is about men

empowering other men to stand up

against violence against women but it

does not cover all violent acts.

“Aboriginal women are 35 times

more likely to experience domestic

violence than non-Aboriginal women

are, 81% of children in care in the

Goldfields are Aboriginal. There is

On the 22 April the Kalgoorlie

Branch wi l l be hold ing a

Regional Ochre Ribbon Launch. The

Aboriginal Family Law

Services provide culturally secure

legal and community education

services for all Aboriginal people,

including children, who have

e x p e r i e n c e d f a m i l y a n d

domestic violence or sexual assault,

including men, women and

children.

strong evidence to suggest that

majority of the kids are there due to

domestic violence. It is widely

recognized that there is no single

cause of violence in Aboriginal

communities, but a number of factors

contributing to the issue itself.”

22 April 2015

WMC Graduates Hall

50 MacDonald Street

10 AM

She is a valued team member and will be missed by all who

have worked with her over the years.

She was selected as Aboriginal Role Model for the Goldfields

and appeared in the Kalgoorlie Miner for her achievements.

Robyn is leaving us with some well developed programs that

are well accepted statewide and a wealth of knowledge, that

This year Robyn (pictured above) will be leaving the

Kalgoorlie office, although we wont lose her as an AFLS

employee as she will be heading up north to our Port

Hedland office.

Robyn first started with us as Administration Support

Officer Trainee back in 2012.

Laverton and Leonora

We will be in Laverton and

on the Following Dates:

19—20 May 2015

16-17 June 2015

Norseman

6 May 2015

20 May 2015

3 June 2015

We are here to assist you to

keep you and your family safe.

Everyone deserves to be safe

and free from violence.

Please call us for more

information.

(08) 9021 0244

The Team in Kalgoorlie have

been busy this year with

organizing programs.

We will be in Coolgardie

every Second Wednesday at

the Red Cross Cottage. Next

dates are:

29 April

13 May

27 May

Don’t Silence the Violence Don’t Silence the Violence Don’t Silence the Violence

OOOCHRECHRECHRE RRRIBBONIBBONIBBON CCCAMPAIGNAMPAIGNAMPAIGN

“We wanted

something to

empower our

people that

they could

identify with

and relate to

more and

enable them to

stand up in

their

communities

and say no to

family violence,

because it’s not

just about men

its about

everyone”

Farewell Robyn

Right: Community Support Officers

Robyn Brockman and Roberta

Councillor, and Regional

Coordinator Julie Dabb

P A G E 7

AFLS received some good

feedback from the Director

of the Academy after the

presentation, who said “the

boys got something out of it,

which was demonstrated at the

end of the session when I did a

recap with them”

Our Respectful Relationships

education session will

continue throughout the

year with the Halls Creek

Clontarf Academy.

A B O R I G I N A L F A M I L Y L A W S E R V I C E S ( W A )

Respectful Relationships with Clontarf Academy

Kununurra

In February, our Community

Support Off icer and

Sol ic itor del ivered a

Respectful Relationships

education session to the

boys at the Clontarf

Academy in Halls Creek.

We discussed the different

kinds of relationships that

young people have and the

importance of respectful

relationships. Halls Creek Clontarf boys

learning about respectful

relationships

International Women’s Day program.

It was a very successful

event and we would like

to thank the Kununurra

Girls Academy for inviting

us. celebrate the special

occasion.

It was also a great

opportunity to meet the

new Development Officer,

to discuss opportunities to

work together and to

show our support for the

program.

It was a very

successful event and we

would like to thank the

Kununurra Girls Academy

for inviting us.

The Kununurra AFLS staff

were invited to attend an

International Women’s Day

morning tea hosted by the

Kununurra Girls Academy.

The morning tea was held

for all of the women in the

community to come

together and .

It was also a great

opportunity to meet the

new Development Officer,

to discuss opportunities to

work together and to show

our support for the

Above: Margaret King and

Debbie Freer

Community Education

This year, we have delivered session to the

Ngnowar Aerwah Rehabilitation Centre, School

groups and had many discussions with people

out in the community.

The Kununurra office can deliver workshops to

communities in the East Kimberley, please con-

tact our office on 91682001 to find out more.

P A G E 8

“Violent

homes have

the same

effect on

children's

brains as

combat on

soldiers”

Dr Daniel Amen

MD

Port Hedland

Tackling Violence out of our Community Program On 13 February 2015 the AFLS

Port Hedland staff travelled to

Karratha to meet with the North

Pilbara Football League (NPFL)

for the signing of the MOU

between the two parties. ALFS

and NPFL agreed in a partnership

to sponsor the 2015 NPFL

Season to ”Tackle Violence out

of our Community”. The

sponsorship included the AFLS

logo on all official uniforms,

naming of a round during the

2015 season and to be able to be

present during the Pre-Season Cup

and other significant events during

the season. We the staff in

Port Hedland would like to

thank Mary and the team in

Perth who assisted with this

partnership and in particular

for Mary in taking time out to

travel to Karratha to attend

the MOU signing and the

2015 Pre-Season Cup in

Dampier.

Left: Signing

of MOU

between

AFLS &

NPFL

(Mary

Cowley &

Greg

Braithwaite)

Future and Current Programs AFLS with our current

Program;

Healing Hands

Picnic in the Park

Tackling Violence out of

our Community

After attending the launch of

the Ochre Ribbon in Perth we

are excited to start planning

our own commemoration

celebration here in Port Hedland.

Well done to all those involved in

a great cause.

Thank you to everyone's input

into the recent RC/CSO meeting

in Perth I think everyone was

inspired by the Programs other

Regions have created and came

away with confidence that we are

all doing a great job.

The Port Hedland office will

be continuing to work with

stakeholders in providing

community services event such

as;

NAIDOC

Closing the Gap

White Ribbon Day

We are also looking forward

to continuing to promote

AFLS Port Hedland office. Robyn is not new to AFLS

but will be relocating from Kalgoorlie to

Port Hedland to commence work on

the 18 May 2015. We are also currently

going through resumes to fill the vacant

CSO role.

I would personally like to thank all staff

for their continued hard work in

providing a professional service to the

community of Port Hedland in the fight

against family violence.

Since June 2014 the Port Hedland

office had been fully staffed and doing

some great work in the Community

promoting the AFLS Vision.

In March 2015 our CSO Sharon

Ramirez resigned from her position,

we wish her well in the future and her

chosen career.

We are looking forward to the

commencement of our new CSO

Robyn Brockman to Port Hedland

Above: AFLS Mary Cowley, AFLS Director

Karen Brisbane and AFLS Port Hedland

staff

P A G E 9

Job

vacancies

Job Vacancies

A B O R I G I N A L F A M I L Y L A W S E R V I C E S ( W A )

AFLS currently has vacancies and we encourage

you to check our website at www.afls.org.au

regularly as we list vacancies when they arise.

Alternatively you may find positions listed at

www.oric.gov.au and www.seek.com.

Membership

AFLS is now looking for members. If

you or someone you know would like

to be a member you can find a

membership form on our website at

www.afls.org.au

“We will

continue to

invest our

time into

assisting our

clients and

working with

key

stakeholders

so AFLS can

have a more

prominent

role in

working

towards the

reduction of

domestic and

family

violence”

The Christmas period was quiet as

our offices were closed, however

since reopening there has been an increase of people attending our offices this is due to

Aboriginal Legal Service, the Community Legal Services and Legal Aid not taking on new clients

or are only taking urgent matters.

I was on leave for 3 weeks and Carrie Hannington from the Carnarvon Office acted in the PLO

position, she did a great job in assisting the lawyers, the CEO and her own caseload.

Currently there are ten lawyers employed with AFLS including myself, none employed under the

Legal Aid Country Lawyers Program (CLP), all are employed directly by AFLS.

Catherine Eagle, our PII representative, presented to the board on the Risk Management Guide in

January. Catherine has been valuable in her support of our service and has provided a lot of

advice to myself and solicitors when required.

The CEO, HRM and Carrie Hannington A/PLO attended a meeting with Mallesons Legal who

have agreed to provide probono legal advice to our service. In the future

The CPFS Signs of Safety training is being rolled out to the regions, the CEO attended the

Broome training. All CSO, ROs and Lawyers will be attending the training.

We will continue to invest our time into assisting our clients and working with key stakeholders

so AFLS can have a more prominent role in working towards the reduction of domestic and

family violence.

I congratulate AFLS in securing the three year funding, It provides security for the staff and

continuity for the clients. I also thank the Board, Mary, James, Jasmine, Andrea, Djaleesa, Brad and

the staff in the regions for their assistance and support.

- Corina Martin, Principal Legal Officer

Staff

Movements New workers to our organisation since our

last newsletter in June 2014 include Maxine

Chi (Broome), Sariya Sambo (Carnarvon),

Priscilla Papertalk (Geraldton), Michele

Bentink (Geraldton), Lee-Anne Taylor

(Geraldton), and Jo Kelly (Kununurra). A

belated welcome to you, and greetings to our

newest member Lee-Anne.

Recent departures from regional offices

include solicitors Roman Dzioba from

Geraldton and Murray Jones from Broome.

Sharon Ramirez, Community Support Officer

also leaves us from Port Hedland. Best of

luck to you all in your new endeavors!

Employee Assistance Program (EAP)

Optum are the EAP provider for the AFLS. Any calls to Optum by any of

our employees is kept strictly confidential. We encourage all of our

employees to utilize this service whenever they are going through any

sort of personal or work related concerns.

Contact details are: 1300 301 008

A word from the PLO….

P A G E 1 0

AFLS are proud partners of The Dreamtime Project , an ECU program supporting Aboriginal

girls in developing future full of opportunity and choice and importantly. providing leadership in

their communities.

Using the platform of modelling and fashion, The Dreamtime Project engages girls in ways that

help them increase their confidence, self-worth and self image through workshops and activities in

education, health and wellness, spirituality, emotional intelligence, leadership and all things that

help them feel confident and empowered.

The Dreamtime Project are ambassadors of the Ochre Ribbon Day Campaign and will be

assisting us with promotion of the campaign throughout the year.

Perth staff helped celebrate the

Aboriginal Legal Service of WA 40th

Anniversary Gala Dinner in November

last year.

In mid 2014 the organisation launched a Children’s Poster

Competition. We asked children to put their ideas of family,

safe community and healthy relationships on paper. We would

like to congratulate the first and second prize winners, and those

who received the judges highly recommended prizes. Thank you

also to the schools and parents who helped us out. These are

some of the winners displayed on our posters.

In other News...

P A G E 1 1

A B O R I G I N A L F A M I L Y L A W S E R V I C E S ( W A )

Safety Awareness AFLS introduced a Health and Wellbeing program around 2 years ago in order to

come up to speed with current Workplace Health and Safety (WHS) systems and

legislation. This program is called Safe and Well at Work.

Over the past 12 months, as well as implementing these policies and procedures,

AFLS has formed a WHS Team. This team is committed to providing support and

guidance to all of our staff on issues of Safety in the workplace, raising awareness

across all of the offices of everyone's responsibility towards keeping our offices safe.

Some of the jobs that are part of being on the WHS Team for AFLS include:

1. Conducting monthly workplace inspections to ensure each office is a safe working

environment 2. Coordinating the implementation of the WHS system - Safe and

Well at Work - including all policies and procedures 3. Reviewing and giving

feedback on new systems and processes like 'Personal Safety' and management of

MSDS's 4. Completing paperwork like 'incident reporting' and 'risk assessments'

5. Conducting Safety system awareness procedures such as 'emergency evacuation'

practice and ergonomic assessments 6. Meeting regularly as a team to discuss all

issues regarding WHS

Remote Office's and Safety issues:

AFLS has 6 offices in remote regions of Australia, and the 'remoteness' of some of

the offices represents a whole new set of challenges for those working there. Some

examples of these 'challenges' in recent months have been:

* Cyclones

* Flooding

* Flat tyres on deserted country roads

* Extreme Heat

* 4WD only roads to access communities

* Fights and Aggressive behaviour near to and within our offices

Safety systems are vital in these circumstances, so that all staff know the appropriate

responses, risks and processes to follow when confronted with one or all of these

scenarios.

Workplace Health and Safety is considered by some as a 'dry' subject, and in fact

some of the legislation is quite involved, however keeping our staff safe in the

workplace is vital to our organisations ongoing success.

- Jasmine Taylor, Human

Resources Manager

Right: Perth staff Brad Ferguson, Andrea

Smith, James Segedin and Corina Martin

following a routine fire drill.

Primary Business Address

Address Line 2

Address Line 3

Address Line 4

Phone: 555-555-5555

Fax: 555-555-5555

E-mail: someone@example.com

The AFLS provide legal representation and community

education to Aboriginal people in WA in the areas of fami-

ly and

sexual violence.

Our legal team offers advocacy, casework, court support

and representation and assists with Violence Restraining

Orders (VROs), criminal injuries compensation, and family

law matter such as recovery orders and parenting plans.

Our community education team helps raise awareness

within the community of family and sexual violence

through educational workshops and community outreach.

We also advocate for law reform that supports the wellbe-

ing of Aboriginal victim survivors, helps to prevent family

and sexual violence, and makes our communities work-

shops and community outreach.

We also advocate for law reform that supports the wellbe-

ing for Aboriginal victim survivors, helps to prevent family

and

Business Name

Business Tagline or Motto

Organization

Phone: 08 9355 1502

Fax: 08 9355 0890

E-mail: perth@afls.org.au

Corporate Office

890 Albany Hwy

East Victoria Park WA 6101

www.afls.org.au

The AFLS provide legal representation and community education

to Aboriginal people in WA in the areas of family and

sexual violence.

Our legal team offers advocacy, casework, court support and

representation and assists with Violence Restraining Orders (VROs),

criminal injuries compensation, and family law matter such as

recovery orders and parenting plans.

Our community education team helps raise awareness within the

community of family and sexual violence through educational

workshops and community outreach. We also advocate for law

reform that supports the wellbeing of Aboriginal victim survivors,

helps to prevent family and sexual violence, and makes our

communities workshops and community outreach.

We also advocate for law reform that supports the wellbeing for

Aboriginal victim survivors, helps to prevent family and

sexual violence, and makes our communities safer.

You may remember AFLS was successful in achieving the National Association of Community Legal Centres (NACLC)

Accreditation in June last year. This is valid for 3 years as long as we keep important documentation up to date, and as long as

we can demonstrate our staff are following these policies. Every 6 months we have submit a report to NACLC to show them

we are making the improvements we need to make to keep up with the Accreditation.

For example, as a government funded legal service we have strict policies or rules about what sort of work we can do and

who can do this work with. As you know we are a service who only work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people,

or the parents of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. We are also a service who only work with the victim-

survivors of family and domestic violence and/or sexual assault This means when people

come to us for help we need to ask questions about their personal business.

Because we keep records about peoples personal business we have strict

policies about how we manage peoples personal information. We are

careful to keep personal information confidential and secure. There are

laws about privacy that we have to follow. This means we cant talk to a

third person about a client without their consent unless they, or someone

else is in serious imminent harm.

By keeping our Accreditation status up to date, we can make sure our staff

are supported to provide you with the best service we can provide. And

every now and then we will run confidential surveys to see what you think

of our service, or to see what you think about other topics related to the

legal system. We hope you will participate in the future as we value what

you have to say.

- Andrea Smith, Policy & Compliance Coordinator

One last word on….Accreditation