Yarra Ranges. The First Six Months

Transcription

1 Yarra Ranges The First Six Months

2 ECLC acknowledges the financial support of: Commonwealth of Australia (Attorney-General s Department) Victoria Legal Aid Yarra Ranges Council and the support of many agencies, staff and residents In the establishment of the Yarra Ranges CLC.

3 Contents INTRODUCTION YARRA RANGES SERVICES CLIENT SERVICES PARTNERSHIP APPROACH COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY LEGAL EDUCATION

4 Page 1 Introduction E astern Community Legal Centre (ECLC) was established in 1974 by community members who saw the value of legal advice being accessible to everyone. The service was initially located in Blackburn, with the main office later relocating to Box Hill and an Outer East office opening in Boronia in Yarra Ranges residents were welcome to seek free legal advice at these locations. However the tyranny of distance made this inaccessible for many. Monthly outreach services were established in Lilydale and Yarra Junction in 2006, followed by Healesville in ECLC provided extensive and significant support to bushfire-affected communities immediately following the February 2009 fires, including the establishment of an ongoing Yarra Glen outreach service. In 2009 ECLC completed a legal needs study detailing the need to establish additional local legal services. In 2012 Yarra Ranges Council formally endorsed the community campaign for ECLC to establish a branch in the Yarra Ranges. Funding was received from both the Commonwealth Government and Victoria Legal Aid in 2013, and the Yarra Ranges CLC, located at the Community Link building in Healesville, opened to the public on 18 February 2014.

5 Page 2 Yarra Ranges Services T he Yarra Ranges Centre has been operating Tuesday to Thursday from 9am to 5pm. Free legal advice is available by appointment. Each month it offers 24 appointments at the Healesville office, 8 appointments at Yarra Junction and 4 appointments at Lilydale. The existing (monthly) Yarra Glen outreach was reviewed and concluded in July 2014, with those appointments transferred to the Yarra Junction outreach service. This followed analysis of existing client and local demographic data which demonstrated high demand for services from communities along the Warburton Highway, and decreased demand in the Yarra Glen area, as bushfire affected communities moved further along the recovery path or preferred an earlier Healesville appointment. Where Were Clients Seen? Yarra Glen 7% Yarra Junction 13% Lilydale 17% Healesville 63% With limited funding, the Yarra Ranges CLC is staffed by a Co-ordinator/Community Development officer (4 days pw), Community Lawyer (3 days pw) and Intake & Administration Officer (2 days pw). The current office configuration has one interview room and three staff workstations, which limits the service s ability to accommodate other agencies staff or provide advice to more than one client at a time. It is hoped that additional rooms in the building may become available in the near future, which would enable ECLC to expand or host related services, such as counselling or family violence advocates.

6 Client Services A summary of the Yarra Ranges client data including outreach services and Yarra Ranges clients assisted at the Magistrates Court is demonstrated below. This covers 1 February 31 July 2014 being the first six months of operation of the Yarra Ranges CLC. Within the advice and casework listed, the Yarra Ranges Community Lawyer provided assistance to 4 Family Relationship Centre (FRC) clients and 57 Intervention Order Support Service (IOSS) clients at Ringwood Magistrates Court. 23% 27% 15% 24% 10% Age of Clients Seen at Healesville & Yarra Ranges Outreaches Page Individual Clients seen New ongoing cases opened One on one legal advices Cases opened through IOSS program Mary s Story Mary was in a car accident that she believed was caused by the other driver. Mary was uninsured, but her car wasn t seriously damaged so she didn t pursue the matter. However, the other driver told his insurance company that it was Mary s fault and they sent her several letters of demand and then used a collections agency to demand payment. Mary had tried to respond to let them know she wasn t responsible but they kept writing to her. Mary had no valuable assets and her only income was a Department of Veteran s Affairs pension. The stress that this was causing her had led to her doctor prescribing her with new medication. Mary saw ECLC s Community Lawyer who helped her draft a letter to the insurance company confirming she wasn t liable, was in financial hardship and reminding the insurance company of their obligations. The insurance company waived the claim against Mary entirely and confirmed this in writing.

7 Page 4 Louisa s Story Louisa had been living with Charlie on a rural rental property in the Yarra Valley for several years. Throughout their relationship she experienced emotional, verbal and more recently physical abuse. Clients Income Scale High Income Medium Income Clients Income Source Other Earned After having a baby, Louisa became concerned for the baby s welfare, so she went to see a Yarra Ranges Community Lawyer about her options. Louisa didn t want to return to the property because it was remote and so she went to stay with her sister. ECLC assisted Louisa to prepare an application for an intervention order to stop Charlie from being abusive to her and the baby. The community lawyer also gave some initial advice about separation and parenting options. Louisa successfully obtained an intervention order with support from ECLC at Court and then was assisted by the ECLC Tenancy Advocate who gave advice about her options with the rental property. ECLC also referred Louisa to Eastern Domestic Violence Service who provided her with support throughout the intervention order process at Court and helped her to access counselling support. Louisa came back to ECLC for further advice about child arrangements once she had settled into her new home. ECLC helped her to access mediation where she was able to safely negotiate supervised contact for Charlie with the baby. Low Income Healesville Launching Place Lilydale Millgrove Yarra Junction Badger Creek Chirnside Park Cockatoo Croydon Croydon Sth East Warburton Eildon Ferntree Gully Gruyere Hoddles Creek Kalorama Mooroolbark Mt Dandenond Mount Evelyn Powelltown Sebastopol Seville East Wandin East Wandin North Warburton Woori Yallock Yarra Glen 3% 3% 4% 3% 3% 3% 4% 7% 8% 8% 7% 8% Govt. Pension / Benefit Where are the Clients From? 19%

8 Page 5 Partnership Approach From inception, the Yarra Ranges CLC team have actively engaged with a range of networks and working groups to: Raise awareness of the CLC services and facilitate warm referrals from agencies for clients who require legal advice Become familiar with local agencies programs and referral pathways for ECLC clients with non-legal needs Discuss the health and wellbeing needs of the local community and how these can be addressed collaboratively, through advocacy and community development projects MEMBERSHIP OF THESE NETWORKS Eastern Elder Abuse Network Healesville & District Service Providers Lilydale Community Services Migrant Settlement Committee Sherbrooke Community Workers Upper Yarra Early Years Network Upper Yarra Services Yarra Ranges Emergency Relief Yarra Ranges Engaging Families Yarra Ranges Housing Action Group Yarra Ranges Youth Service Providers WORKING ON THESE PROJECTS IN COLLABORATION WITH LOCAL AGENCIES Family Violence Prevention in the Yarra Valley Finding your Voice Seniors Festival activity Healesville Community Shower Project Healesville Hospital Redevelopment Liaison Group Yarra Ranges Community Safety Action Plan Family Violence

9 Page 6 Community Development The Yarra Ranges CLC team have focussed initially on three areas in its community development work: Addressing family violence issues Building relationships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (ATSI) community Improving Access to Services for People who are Homeless or at Risk of Homelessness ECLC is collaborating with Healesville Interchurch Community Care Inc (HICCI), Melba Services and Yarra Valley Community Health to present Finding Your Voice. The two hour interactive sessions will encourage seniors to take control of their lives, with speakers introducing aspects of rights for seniors, Power of Attorney and Advanced Directives. It will be combined with singing, afternoon tea and a performance by acclaimed tenor Peter Brocklehurst, who will also share his story of recovery from depression, alcohol and substance abuse. Yarra Ranges CLC Office in Healesville Community Link Building

10 Page 7 1 Addressing family violence issues Family violence has been identified as a major issue in the local community by a range of community groups and agencies, as well as being demonstrated in the service statistics. ECLC is involved in two recently convened working groups: - Family Violence Prevention in the Yarra Valley (convened by Yarra Ranges Council; aimed at addressing social factors that underlie family violence in the Healesville area) - Yarra Ranges Community Safety Action Plan: Priority Area 4 Family Violence (convened by Victoria Police Family Violence Advisor, Outer East; aimed at developing and implementing a regional action plan to promote community safety) ECLC will pilot a Family Violence Clinic offering integrated support services on a fortnightly basis to assist family violence victims assess their situation and available options Legal Matters at Yarra Ranges CLC 2% 9% 5% 5% 9% Family Law 47% 2 Family Violence* Consumer/Credit/Debt Traffic/Criminal Neighbour Disputes VOCAT MVA's Wills/Estate Other Civil * includes Yarra Ranges clients seen at Ringwood Court (Intervention Order Support Service)

11 2 Building relationships with Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander (ATSI) Community Healesville is home to a large Aboriginal community, consisting largely of local Wurundjeri people, descendants from other Aboriginal groups who lived at the Coranderrk Mission in the early 1900s and students from all over Australia, currently studying at Worawa Aboriginal College. The Centre has concentrated on developing relationships through the Healesville Indigenous Community Services Association by attending the monthly community lunch, participating in the NAIDOC Week Family Day and providing general legal advice regarding Aboriginal children seeking information about their backgrounds. ECLC was also a partner (by invitation) with the Eastern Metropolitan Region NAIDOC Ball and a participating agency in the Yarra Ranges Aboriginal Health Referral Pathway project. HICSA promoted ECLC s services in its July newsletter, which may have encouraged more Aboriginal people to seek legal advice and/or identify themselves as being Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander. Page 8 In the 6 months since the Healesville office opened, ECLC has assisted 14 clients who have identified as ATSI, compared with only 6 clients in the previous 6 months, an increase of over 230%. Increase of Clients who have identified as ATSI from Feb 2012 July 2014

12 3 Improving Access to Services for People who are Homeless or at Risk of Homelessness The Centre is working with a group of agencies including Healesville Interchurch Community Care Inc, Salvation Army Eastcare Community Connections, Yarra Ranges Council and Yarra Valley Community Health to provide wrap around holistic services to people who are experiencing homelessness or are at risk of homelessness. Clients of any of these services can receive warm referrals to any of the other agencies, for example a person attending for emergency relief from HICCI will then come next door to ECLC for a legal appointment. These relationships have also improved access to legal services in a practical way. Clients who require legal advice but do not have the means to travel to the Healesville office or one of the outreach locations can be provided with a bus ticket, Myki recharge, fuel voucher or even collected from their residence and driven to their legal appointment. ECLC s commitment to social justice is actioned through membership of working groups to provide holistic, wrap-around services to the Healesville community s most vulnerable members, including provision of shower facilities, clean clothes, food, transport and access to legal and allied health services for people experiencing homelessness and financial disadvantage. Page 9 Ashlea s Story Ashlea had some infringements that she had been having trouble dealing with for some time. Ashlea suffered from mental health issues and had recently started getting help. Her counsellor referred her to ECLC for legal help. The Yarra Ranges CLC was able to help Ashlea navigate the infringements system and show her how to resubmit her application to have the fines revoked because of her special circumstances. Ashlea came back to see the Community Lawyer in Healesville for advice and assistance on several occasions, but felt happy to take control and submit the paperwork herself. Ashlea contacted the Centre to report that her application had been successful and that the infringements had been revoked.

13 Page 10 Community Legal Education (CLE) The Yarra Ranges team have initially focussed on raising awareness of ECLC s services throughout the shire, particularly aiming to reach communities experiencing disadvantage which have previously had limited access to free legal advice. CLE sessions have been delivered to: Community services networks across the shire Redwood Community Centre clients (Warburton) Upper Yarra Community House VCAL students Inspiro Stroke Victims Support Group Yarra Ranges Emergency Relief Network New service agency workers touring the shire on the bi-annual induction bus tour Anchor (homelessness agency) Melba Park Lilydale BBQ for homeless people

14 Locations Healesville Healesville Community Link 110 River Street (PO Box 79), Healesville VIC 3777 Phone: (03) Regional: Office Hours: Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday 9am-5pm Box Hill Suite 3, Town Hall Hub 27 Bank Street, Box Hill VIC 3128 Phone: (03) Fax: (03) Office Hours: Monday to Friday, 9am-5pm Boronia Suite B, 6 Floriston Road (PO Box 747), Boronia VIC 3155 Phone: (03) Fax: (03) outereast@eclc.org.au Office Hours: Monday to Thursday, 9am-5pm ABN Reg. No. A4904N