April 02, 2014
Risks in Family court reforms
Lawyers are concerned this week’s changes to the Family Court will disadvantage many parents and children.
Under reforms instituted by Justice Minister Judith Collins, people will be channelled into mediation rather than the court when custody issues arise, and their access to lawyers will be severely restricted.
South Auckland lawyer Hana Ellis says Maori have made extensive use of the court, especially grandparents concerned for the welfare of their mokopuna.
She says from now on people must fill in all the forms and represent themselves in court without specialist advice.
"It’s stressful enough for families trying to reach agreement about their kids let alone having to make sure they’ve got all the right information in the form, having to make sure they can represent themselves in court and a lot of the people are going to be whakama standing in front of the judge, it’s a completely foreign environment, and it’s going to be them and the other party," Ms Ellis says.
FOR THE FULL INTERVIEW WITH HANA ELLIS CLICK ON THE LINK
https://secure.zeald.com/uma/play_podcast?podlink=MTY3Njc=
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