RAINBOW FAMILIES VICTORIA - SUBMISSION TO THE FAMILY LAW SYSTEM REVIEW April-May 2018
We are seeking your personal stories as part of our submission to the Family Law System Review currently being conducted by the Australian Law Reform Commission.
Why? Because we want to be able to inform the ALRC about the negative and positive experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, gender diverse, intersex and queer parented and co-parented families- including donors, surrogates and children - when you interact with any part of the family law system. We want to illustrate how responsive the service system - including couselling, mediation or dispute resolution services - are to our diverse family forms and to our diverse relationships.
SURVEY ONE
Short answer questions - you can answer one, some or all questions.
You can respond as someone who has personal experience and interaction with some or all parts of the whole family law system.
Your short answers might include negative or positive examples of:
looking up information on the family court website,
navigating the family law system itself,
children's experiences with support services or the court system,
service accessibility in rural or regional areas,
finding inclusive or responsive counsellors who understand diverse LGBTIQ relationships and rainbow families,
experiences with a family dispute resolution centre
experiences accessing support for family violence
and/or
being part of a family court proceeding (although please read the FAQ section on our website before you include specific court proceedings)
You do not need to have gone to court to be able to respond - any information on your experience of any interaction, no matter how brief, will be gratefully accepted.
Your responses are also welcome as a service provider – you might work in the family violence sector, as a counsellor or mediator in the family court system, as family lawyers or with a professional expertise in children’s rights, child protection, child support or LGBTIQ specific practice of any kind.
If you wish to respond as both a consumer of services AND as a service provider please complete the survey twice - once as for each different role.
Complete SURVEY ONE to all your responses to be used in our PUBLIC REPORT.
Complete SURVEY TWO if you would like to submit your personal experiences for our CONFIDENTIAL REPORT. This is a separate survey.
FAQs - please refer to our website under Advocacy - Federal for more details: http://www.rainbowfamilies.org.au/advocacy/federal/
Thank you for participating in our survey.
Please contact Rainbow Families Victoria on info@rainbowfamilies.org au with any questions.