Community Social Worker Role in Supporting the Elderly – Assessment Answer

Location and Role of the Local Court

As a community worker, my role will be to contact the Magistrate Court and apply for Family Violence Intervention Orders. The court has the responsibilities are resources to deal with family violence cases. The court is located at Metropolitan area. As a community worker, I will aim to obtain restraining orders from the court to be able to protect my client who is under abuse by their daughter. This will be done by obtaining documents that is adding and defending the father from being abused by the daughter and property. The restraining order aims to prevent acts of abuse directed towards my client. With the help of the client, there will be a need to fill out the form explaining the circumstances and the conditions necessary for protection. The police may also help in asking for a protective order from the court.

Summary of Legal Processes to Protect the Elderly

There will be a need to get a restraining order to defend the elderly father from being violently attacked by her daughter. A restraining order is an illegal document that is helping in defending parents from children and their property being violently violated. This legal document is obtained from the Magistrate’s Court. My client can fast dial 000 if they feel threatened or hurt to get immediate assistance. However, since my client approached me for protection as a community worker my role will be to help in applying for the family violence intervention order. This order is found online and the client is supposed to appear in court (Kennedy, Richards, & Leiman, 2016). The form is containing certain questions which are required to be answered to show the circumstances under which the client requires protection and the extent to which the client believes that they require protection from her daughter. The police might be asked to ask the court to provide a protective order. This application is expected to be free of charge (Hackenberg, Sallinen, Handolin, & Koljonen, 2021). The appeal is supposed to be signed in court as a statutory declaration and witnessed by the justice of the peace so that it can be filed to the Magistrates’ Court. The appearance date is then expected to be sought by the court once the form is filled out online. The next procedure will be appearing in court for the hearing and a ruling is expected to be made without the respondent’s presence even if they fail to appear in court. The client is supposed to get restraining orders from the Magistrates’ Court.

Overview of Local Support Services Available in Connection to the Court

Several support services are working in collaboration with a court to ensure the rights and safety of the elderly. As a community service worker, I must ensure that my client can access all these resources. One of the services supports that is provided to the elderly is security. This is done in form of counselling services where my client is expected to be provided with counselling services to be able to ensure and reinstate his psychological status. This service is usually very important because it is necessary for the client's mental state (Forell & Nagy, 2021). The court is working in collaboration with the Department of Human Services to offer counselling services for the elderly and children who are experiencing family violence. The other services that are also provided in collaboration with the court include interpretation and language assistance. Due to the diversity and cultural differences, a client may not be in a position to speak English as their first language. For that reason, there is a need to translate and interpret their language. The court is working in collaboration with Translating and Interpreting Services which is providing translation services making it easy for non-English speakers to be able to communicate their challenges (Jiang, et al., 2018). These services can either be provided online or on-site in the courthouse. This has enabled most people to approach the court, especially those who shy away from approaching the court as they believe they may not be adequately assisted since English is not their first language. Through translation services which are also available online, it has been easy for the elderly and even the children to be able to access support services in the court. The other support service includes the Victim Support Service which is available in all Western Australian courts including the Magistrates’ Court. These services are provided free of charge. The services may include legal, medical, counselling and other necessary services that help in providing information to the police as they continue with the investigations. These assistant services are also helping the court in preparing for their ruling hence making it easy to conduct the legal process.

How to Prepare and Receive Subpoena and Attend the Court as a Witness

There are three types of subpoenas. One of the subpoenas is a requirement for the production of documents as directed by the court order. Sometimes the court may excuse actual physical attendance in the court and require that all documents be provided as stipulated by the time set in the subpoena. The second type of subpoena is the one that requires the giving of evidence which may be a written order that requires the person named to attend as directed by the court to provide witnesses and also to give evidence about what they saw or had in a particular case. The third type of subpoena is for the production of evidence which may come in form of order which is written and requires the witness to be able to attend the order as directed to give evidence and to produce a document. As a community service provider, I will be expected to represent my client as a witness in the courtroom (Skott, 2021). I must prepare my documentation properly on behalf of my client to be able to testify as a witness. At the same time, I am reminded that lying in court is a crime and this can lead to a jail term. I must also be well prepared to answer the questions as the judge allows for if I fail, I can be found in contempt of the court. Witnesses are important because they help in addressing some of the technical issues while also providing reliable testimonies which can help in the easy conclusion of the case. Considering that I have been issued a subpoena in this case as a community service worker I will need to be ready with all the documentation in the file. I will also need to be in charge of my client’s arrival at the court venue in ready for the hearing. I will also be required to compile a report which is giving general information about the client’s background and all the problems that he is experiencing such as his history and what could be creating the dispute between him and his daughter. I was also required to edit my work before coming into the court while also ensuring that I am maintaining a sober mood while providing witnesses in the court.

Ethical Issues that May Arise

Some of the ethical issues that may arise include issues of ethics and confidentiality. As a community worker, I am required to observe ethical considerations when it comes to keeping data and information about the client private. I am also supposed to observe ethics when it comes to religious factors and the cultural background of the client according to the Code of Ethics 2010. The main aim is to ensure the safety and health of the client. As a community worker, I am also supposed to ensure that I have the full information I need when it comes to the potential disclosure and intervention procedures and the risks that are involved towards my client. I must also ensure that I am having consent to help in intervening for my client. I must be very careful not to intrude on my client’s privacy while seeking information to obtain consent. The Commonwealth Privacy Act 1988 under section 16 A requires that social workers be very careful while collecting their client’s information. I must also be very careful when collecting and presenting information to my client and ensure that all the legal procedures have been followed. I must also limit the confidentiality of the information that I will be giving to the court. Some of this information might put my client in danger and therefore must not be disclosed. It is not necessary to collect and obtain individual consent from a client if the information is likely to threaten their life. In this case, my client is under threat from her daughter and therefore I must be able to restrict the information that I am giving out to protect his life and property.

Conclusion

The Magistrate’s Court is fully available and assists the community, especially to family members of victims who are experiencing disputes. Application of family violence disputes are readily available online and there is also numerous support service provided by the community workers and the Magistrates’ court which is working together with other support groups. It is also important to consider some of the ethical guidelines in community work such as issues to do with confidentiality to protect and respect the rights of the client. 

References

Forell, S., & Nagy, M. (2021). Health justice insights: health justice partnership as a response to domestic and family violence, Health. Sydney: Health Justice Sydney.

Hackenberg, E., Sallinen, V., Handolin, L., & Koljonen, V. (2021). Victims of Severe Intimate Partner Violence Are Left Without Advocacy Intervention in Primary Care Emergency Rooms: A Prospective Observational Study. J Interpers Violence, 36(15-16):7832-7854.

Jiang, Y., DeBare, D., Colomer, I., Wesley, J., Seaberry, J., & Viner-Brown, S. (2018). Characteristics of Victims and Suspects in Domestic Violence-Related Homicide - Rhode Island Violent Death Reporting System. R I Med J, 101(10):58-61.

Kennedy, R., Richards, J., & Leiman, T. (2016). Law and Human Service: Together and Apart. In R, Kennedy, J. Richards, & T. Leiman (Eds.) Integrating Human Service Law, Ethics and Practice (4th ed., pp. 19-42). . Oxford: Oxford University Press Australia.

Skott, S. (2021). Disaggregating Violence: Understanding the Decline. J Interpers Violence, 36(15-16):7670-7694.

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