|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Legal Aid News Issue 17 << Back to index Communities celebrate together Coming together for a joint celebration in Law Week (May 2001) were community leaders and workers from four different language groups in Fairfield. The focus was Legal Aid's booklet Family Law - Frequently Asked Questions which was being launched in Arabic, Chinese, Spanish and Vietnamese by the Chair of the Ethnic Communities’ Council, Salvatore Scevola. In his public address, Mr Scevola expressed strong support for the project, commending Legal Aid for “being top of the list among agencies allocating funds to translation work”. The 18-page booklet introduces migrants to Australia's Family Law Act and provides answers to questions about divorce, child support payments and property settlement as well as issues such as child abduction. “A stand-out feature of these translations is the importance placed on children's legal rights and court decisions made in their best interests,” Mr Scevola said. “I am also pleased that right up front, this booklet emphasises that both parents have equal responsibility for their children under Australian law.” Thi Ngyuen, a community worker in Mimosa House (an Indo-Chinese Women's Refuge) and bilingual court support worker from Fairfield Local Court, also endorsed the translation. The translations were put to immediate use in afternoon workshops on family law and healthy relationships. Working closely with key local agencies and interpreters, Legal Aid lawyers discussed a range of family law issues with 100 people (80% women) from the four language groups. The workshops seemed to strike an appropriate mix of comfortable informality and information-sharing with serious discussion of issues, predominantly relating to women's rights in the divorce process, recognising female contributions in property settlements, contact orders and changing children's names. Also of concern to these migrant communities was the threat of their partners taking the children overseas and the assumption by some that as women, they would automatically gain custody. Many participants had no idea about the free legal services available in Australia. “In Vietnam,” one woman said, “legal services are very, very expensive.” Many women welcomed the opportunity to learn new things and find out where to go in the future to get help for any legal problems. Family lawyer, Maya Ovenden with some of the women who attended the workshop held in Vietnamese. EthnicCommunitie's Council Chair, Salvatore Scevola, snips the ribbon and hands the new translations to Vietnamese community worker, Thi Nguyen. |
|
|
|