CJSN in
Action
The story of the holiday season
shows all the cogs in CJSN’s wheel in
action.
While many people were enjoying
Christmas, the mobile phone of Kylie Gersbach, Hunter
Regional Co-ordinator rang, and the police required
support for a person they had arrested. Action CJSN
support worker: quick to respond as always, Kylie sent
one of her dedicated support workers to Maitland Police
Station.
No legal advice … The
client turned down offers to assist him in accessing
legal advice. The support worker explained the importance
of legal advice, his right to access it, and potential
options. The client was clear and made a choice not to
get legal advice. The charge was sexual assault. The
offence was very serious. Without legal advice, the
support worker was unable to support the client during
the recorded interview.
No bail … The client
lived down the street from the alleged victim. According
to police guidelines, this meant that the police
couldn’t give him bail. He remained in custody until
his bail hearing in Maitland Court the next
day.
Yes to legal advice …
His support worker went to court for the bail hearing.
Things were getting more serious: the client changed his
mind, he wanted legal advice, but no duty solicitor was
at court that day. Action CJSN on call volunteer lawyer:
the support worker contacted a CJSN on call lawyer in
Sydney who spoke to the client over the phone.
Bail granted … The
client was advised by his lawyer to say three things to
the magistrate. After receiving this advice, he did
something that most people aren’t able to do: with
the help of his support worker, the client spoke for
himself in court and was granted restricted
bail.
“He got bail? That’s
fantastic! I didn’t think he would because the
offence was so serious,” the client’s lawyer
was ecstatic when she was told the result.
This support reflects many of the
ways in which CJSN works and makes a
difference:
- support at a time when no one
else is available;
- supporting people to really
understand their rights and respect their
choices;
- access to legal advice when
nothing else is available;
- provision of legal advice from
practitioners who have training in communicating with
people with intellectual disabilities;
- demonstrating that when
effective support is provided people are able to speak
for themselves;
- positive experiences for both
volunteer lawyer and support worker in being able to
really make a difference.
CJSN Sydney
Training, training, training and
service expansion have been the themes for CJSN in Sydney
over Christmas and the New Year.
Training … Two
orientation sessions have been run for people interested
in volunteering for court support since our last edition
of the newsletter. An orientation session in December
last year was targeted at a group of 7 law students who
are all keen to continue on and complete the two day
training to become court support workers. Court support
training for the 17 volunteers who have completed the
orientation session will soon be scheduled.
Training … To expand
the CJSN service to Sydney’s West, Jane Thomson,
Sydney Regional Co-ordinator, has been hard at work
contacting disability services in Western Sydney to
recruit disability workers who may be interested in
volunteering for police interview supports with CJSN. The
response has been refreshing. An orientation session for
people interested in training for police interview
supports has been held in February at the Parramatta Town
Hall. The 10 volunteers who have completed the
orientation session are due to commence CJSN’s
police interview support worker course next
week.
Training … Lawyers have
said that they feel it’s their professional
responsibility to attend police stations when they
receive a call from CJSN after hours: these were our
favourite people among the 6 enthusiastic lawyers who
attended our second workshop on 16 February, for lawyers
interested in participating on our after hours on call
roster. CJSN has now trained 14 lawyers to participate on
the roster, which officially began operating on 9
February this year. It currently provides 24 hr coverage
and back up for when the usual sources of legal advice is
not available, and when the charges are very serious and
in person advice is required.
Service expansion … To
complement the expansion in our volunteer network to
Sydney’s West, CJSN’s job-sharing Sydney
Regional Co-ordinators, Jane Thomson and Janene Cootes,
have been promoting the CJSN service to police stations
in Western Sydney where CJSN was previously unavailable
for support.
CJSN in the Hunter
Is the Hunter CJSN’s busiest
region? We’re sure this question has been racing
through the mind of Kylie Gersbach, Hunter Regional
Co-ordinator, during the support work that she has been
juggling around a heavy training schedule for the past
two months.
Kylie has recently run a training
session for workers with disability services, completed a
Youth Justice Conference support, and co-ordinated the 3
police supports and 1 bail court support that CJSN
provided over the Christmas break.
Two students, Vicki and Nick, from
Newcastle University, have been undertaking placements
with Kylie. They are currently designing a short workshop
and complementary resources aimed at informing people
with an intellectual disability about their rights when
they come in contact with the police. Two sessions of the
workshop have been scheduled for February.
During mid December Kylie treated
her volunteers to a well-deserved Christmas party that
also celebrated the International Day of
Volunteers.
There are now 20 trained volunteers
in the Hunter, with half a dozen expressions of interest
in volunteering. Thankyou to Kylie and all her volunteers
for all the great work!
CJSN Down South
Promotions and fresh faces are in
the air for CJSN in the South. It didn’t take long
for former Southern Regional Co-ordinator, now Project
Manager, Judy Harper, to show Karen Morrow the CJSN
Southern Regional Co-ordinator ropes.
Welcome to the team, Karen. It will
be double the action in the South for CJSN with both Judy
and Karen based there.
Karen and Judy are now located at:
Old Berry Courthouse, Victoria Street, Berry. P.O. Box
422 Berry 2535 Ph 4464 2733
Karen’s mobile: 0404 412
148
Judy’s mobile: 0403 393936
Will Law Week see CJSN’s
biggest promotions?
That’s what Karen has been
planning with local services, and promotion of events
will be on the Law Week calendar.
The needs of victims with an
intellectual disability will be addressed at a forum in
Ulladulla that is being planned with the Victims of Crime
Bureau.
Discussions at this forum will
drive CJSN’s moves to better support victims with an
intellectual disability.
It’s
official: CJSN is now formally providing support at Nowra
Court and Police station. Meetings have been held with
the magistrate and registrar of Nowra Court to cement
this relationship, and now participate in the Court User
Forum. Time will prove how valuable it is to people with
intellectual disability and to CJSN.
Two training sessions later with
the Wollongong Police, and over 220 officers in the South
have now been trained about the rights of people with an
intellectual disability, and about the CJSN service. It
won’t be long before all the officers in the
Wollongong Local Area Command have been trained by CJSN,
and special thanks go to Kylie MacFarlane, EDO at
Wollongong Police Station for facilitating and supporting
the training and CJSN presence in the Police station.
Up
to Speed with the CJSN Team
Judy Harper, formerly CJSN’s
Southern Regional Co-ordinator has accepted the helm of
CJSN Project Manager. We’re confident that great
things will happen under her guidance.
As of 31 January, Karen Morrow, the
newest addition to the CJSN team, has assumed Judy’s
former position of Southern Regional Co-ordinator. Karen
has an extensive background in working with parents with
an intellectual disability, and managing community based
and volunteer projects. We warmly welcome her to the
team.
From cheers to tears it’s been
emotional times for CJSN: we’ve said goodbye to
Carol Hannaford, who has resigned as CJSN Resources
Officer. She’s now the Project Officer of the
Behaviour Intervention Service. Good luck, Carol –
we’ll miss you – and look forward to working
with you in your new role.
Wanted: Criminal
Lawyers
If you are a criminal lawyer
interested in undertaking some work on a voluntary basis
that will allow you to advocate for the rights of people
with an intellectual disability, then we’d like to
hear from you.
CJSN has recently set up an after
hours roster of on call lawyers who provide advice to
clients over the telephone or at police stations when
serious offences are involved. The provision of legal
advice during police interviews involving a serious
offence is essential. Unless clients are provided with
access to legal advice in such cases, CJSN support
workers will not be able to support clients during the
actual recorded interview.
Please fill in the form below and
fax, email or post it to us if you’re interested in
knowing more.
IDRS
CJSN Volunteer
Fax to: 02 9318
2887
Mail to: 2C 199 Regent St, Redfern, NSW
2016
I am interested
in
- Keeping in
touch with the CJSN
- Finding out
about coming a CJSN Volunteer
- I am a
Solicitor and I am interested in assisting the
CJSN
Name:
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Address:
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Post Code ................
Phone: (w)
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(mob)
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email:
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