KYLIE BECKHOUSE

EXECUTIVE DIRECTORFAMILY LAW

LEGAL A ID NSW

The Child Protection RoadshowWhat is happening internationally and

what can we learn?

Los Angeles, US

Pittsburgh, US

Multi-disciplinary team approaches

Flint, Michigan

Multi-disciplinary team approaches to child representation

Recommendation:

In children’s law practices, trial a multidisciplinary team approach to the delivery of child representation services

Why?

To test whether there are benefits that children could derive from a multidisciplinary team approach

To assess whether this approach could be as cost effective as traditional methods of legal service delivery

Professionalizing child protection law

Better links with universities

Better links with universities

Recommendation:

Forge closer links between children’s legal practices and university law schools and clinical programs

Why?To improve the standard of child representation in

AustraliaTo encourages good lawyers and social workers to

specialise in this areaLet’s professionalise child representation, so that it

develops into an area of legal expertise

Training and support

Recommendation:

Dedicate funding and resources to supporting, monitoring and training child representatives so they can deliver higher quality child representation services

Why?Investing resources in effective monitoring processes,

training and supervision improves the quality of child representation services.

There is a connection between the resourcing of child protection and family law legal systems and the quality of legal services delivered.

Hearing the voice of the child

Edmund D. Edelman Children’s Court in Los Angeles

Child centred facilities at courts

Children’s involvement in court processes

Recommendation:

That Children’s Courts and the Family Courts develop principles to guide decision making about the participation of children in legal processes including judicial interactions with children.

Why? 

To inform decision making and the participants

To articulate appropriate processes and procedures

To ensure that judicial meetings are conducted in a safe, transparent and child inclusive manner.

Charters about participation

Feedback tools

Recommendation:

Introduce a system-wide feedback mechanism for child representation services in order to elicit the views and perspectives of people across the system, including children

Why?To ensure child representatives are meeting the needs of

the children they represent and the family law systemTo improve the performance of child representativesTo monitor performance and assess whether skill levels are

appropriate

h t t p s : / / w w w. c h u r c h i l l t r u s t . c o m . a u / f e l l o w s / d e t a i l / 3 8 8 0 / Ky li e + B e c k h o u s e

KYLIE BECKHOUSE – AUGUST 2015

THANKS TO THE WINSTON CHURCHILL MEMORIAL TRUST OF AUSTRALIA AND LEGAL AID NSW