Grandparents Victoria – submission to Child Protection Legal Aid Services Review consultation and options paper Grandparents Victoria (GPV) and Kinship Carers Victoria (KCV) are, in effect, one agency with two distinct strands of work. GPV/KCV represents both the views of grandparents in general and kinship carers in particular. On matters related to the wellbeing of children and families the views of both agencies are tightly aligned, with all grandparents expecting all sectors of the community to play a role in protecting children. The role assigned by grandparents to the legal fraternity is that of champion and protector of in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. children’s rights, particularly those outlined GPV/KCV has reviewed all 50 options presented in the Child Protection Legal Aid Services Review consultation paper, and considers them to be a comprehensive suite of ideas that would reform Legal Aid in ways that make it: more responsive to and aspirations family’s needs better able to empower families to proceed to future pathways in their lives more transparent and better able to protect the rights of families. GPV/KCV has selected thirty-seven options for specific response and grouped them according to priority areas as identified by GPV/KCV. These thirty-seven options are considered to be crucial and should all be implemented. GPV/KCV is sensitive to the needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, and assumes that because of the relevance of these options the aboriginal community will support them. GPV/KCV plans to contact Aboriginal agencies to ascertain their response to options put by the VLA and will contact the VLA to support any views contrary to total support for the options if necessary. Until that time VLA may assume support from GPV/KCV for Options 9–14. The options that are not the subject of comment on in this submission are not deemed to be unworthy. Rather, they are not ones we feel qualified address. 1. Purpose of Legal Aid Options 1 and 3 Considered together these two options, as slightly modified by GPV/KCV, outline a comprehensive approach to stating the purposes of Legal Aid in a Child Protection context that is supported by GPV/KCV. That: the purpose of the Child Protection Program be clarified as to promote the safety, wellbeing and development of children and young people. This involves identifying and documenting as a non-negotiable standard of practice the requirement to support:
Grandparents Victoria – submission to Child Protection Legal Aid Services Review consultation and options paper Grandparents Victoria (GPV) and Kinship Carers Victoria (KCV) are, in effect, one agency with two distinct strands of work. GPV/KCV represents both the views of grandparents in general and kinship carers in particular. On matters related to the wellbeing of children and families the views of both agencies are tightly aligned, with all grandparents expecting all sectors of the community to play a role in protecting children. The role assigned by grandparents to the legal fraternity is that of champion and protector of children’s rights, particularly those outlined in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. GPV/KCV has reviewed all 50 options presented in the Child Protection Legal Aid Services Review consultation paper, and considers them to be a comprehensive suite of ideas that would reform Legal Aid in ways that make it: more responsive to family’s needs and aspirations better able to empower families to proceed to future pathways in their lives more transparent and better able to protect the rights of families. GPV/KCV has selected thirty-seven options for specific response and grouped them according to priority areas as identified by GPV/KCV. These thirty-seven options are considered to be crucial and should all be implemented. GPV/KCV is sensitive to the needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, and assumes that because of the relevance of these options the aboriginal community will support them. GPV/KCV plans to contact Aboriginal agencies to ascertain their response to options put by the VLA and will contact the VLA to support any views contrary to total support for the options if necessary. Until that time VLA may assume support from GPV/KCV for Options 9–14. The options that are not the subject of comment on in this submission are not deemed to be unworthy. Rather, they are not ones we feel qualified address. 1. Purpose of Legal Aid Options 1 and 3 Considered together these two options, as slightly modified by GPV/KCV, outline a comprehensive approach to stating the purposes of Legal Aid in a Child Protection context that is supported by GPV/KCV. That: the purpose of the Child Protection Program be clarified as to promote the safety, wellbeing and development of children and young people. This involves identifying and documenting as a non-negotiable standard of practice the requirement to support:
vla-grandparents-victoria-response-to-child-protection-legal-aid-service.docx