Lived Experience, DV, and Family Law- How the Sisters in Law Project is Focused on Making Change!
Tracks
Virtual Presentations
| Thursday, December 2, 2021 |
| 11:36 AM - 11:56 AM |
Overview
Ms Jane Matts, Sisters In Law Project
Speaker
Ms Jane Matts
Founder And Practice Leader
Sisters In Law Project
Lived Experience, DV, and Family Law- How the Sisters in Law Project is Focused on Making Change!
Abstract
Lived Experience, DV, and Family Law- How the Sisters in Law Project is Focused on Making Change!
The Sisters in Law Project consists of DFV survivors and advocates who want to see a change in the management of DFV in Family Law. This includes the way domestic violence is assessed, evaluated, and managed in the family law jurisdiction.
Family Law is a closed, often silenced adversarial system that is well documented as failing survivors of abuse. This is identified in many reports including witness statements by Rosie Batty in 2015 Senate inquiry into Domestic violence. Despite this revolving door of inquiries we still see the need to create a safer pathways for victims of abuse in family law.
Our current projects have been to provide lived experience, both state and federally. Recently we presented to the NSW Select Inquiry into Coercive Control. Here we provided lived experience of abusive behaviours and system responses to those behaviours to ensure that key issues are fully realized by the legislature.
Our team has developed innovative approaches to improve the management of DV such as simple risk profile that uses a DV timeline and DV summary to focus on issues of risk while linking into key legislation. We also have developed Guided Advocacy, linking self represented survivors with lawyers for ongoing strategies and advice.
We also identified the need to better manage cross-jurisdictional conflict of state welfare requirements in the family law arena. Protective parents following state legal requirements are being punished in family law jurisdictions for not facilitating a relationship to known perpetrators of abuse.
This presentation explores how the voices of survivors are central to policy change and reform in family law. It explains how we have formulated issues and explored solutions. It presses the need for more survivor input to family law reform by scaffolding from the experiences of others.
3 Key Learnings:
1.Identify the valuable insights that Lived Expertise can offer to create generative change in the Family Law system and why that change needs to happen.
2. Recall the 4 key areas of innovation proposed by Sisters in law project being
a) The importance of Sisters In Law Project in the final report of NSW Select Committee
into Coercive Control;
b) Legislative reform as it relates to state child protection requirements to be protective
parents vs federal family law jurisdiction to ensure children have a meaningful
relationship with both parents;
c) How ‘Guided Advocacy’ is helping self-represented mothers in family law jurisdiction;
d) identify and recall key aspects of a Domestic Violence risk profile used in a family law
environment.
3. Identify simple steps to make a seat at the table for lived expertise to create legislative and policy change.
The Sisters in Law Project consists of DFV survivors and advocates who want to see a change in the management of DFV in Family Law. This includes the way domestic violence is assessed, evaluated, and managed in the family law jurisdiction.
Family Law is a closed, often silenced adversarial system that is well documented as failing survivors of abuse. This is identified in many reports including witness statements by Rosie Batty in 2015 Senate inquiry into Domestic violence. Despite this revolving door of inquiries we still see the need to create a safer pathways for victims of abuse in family law.
Our current projects have been to provide lived experience, both state and federally. Recently we presented to the NSW Select Inquiry into Coercive Control. Here we provided lived experience of abusive behaviours and system responses to those behaviours to ensure that key issues are fully realized by the legislature.
Our team has developed innovative approaches to improve the management of DV such as simple risk profile that uses a DV timeline and DV summary to focus on issues of risk while linking into key legislation. We also have developed Guided Advocacy, linking self represented survivors with lawyers for ongoing strategies and advice.
We also identified the need to better manage cross-jurisdictional conflict of state welfare requirements in the family law arena. Protective parents following state legal requirements are being punished in family law jurisdictions for not facilitating a relationship to known perpetrators of abuse.
This presentation explores how the voices of survivors are central to policy change and reform in family law. It explains how we have formulated issues and explored solutions. It presses the need for more survivor input to family law reform by scaffolding from the experiences of others.
3 Key Learnings:
1.Identify the valuable insights that Lived Expertise can offer to create generative change in the Family Law system and why that change needs to happen.
2. Recall the 4 key areas of innovation proposed by Sisters in law project being
a) The importance of Sisters In Law Project in the final report of NSW Select Committee
into Coercive Control;
b) Legislative reform as it relates to state child protection requirements to be protective
parents vs federal family law jurisdiction to ensure children have a meaningful
relationship with both parents;
c) How ‘Guided Advocacy’ is helping self-represented mothers in family law jurisdiction;
d) identify and recall key aspects of a Domestic Violence risk profile used in a family law
environment.
3. Identify simple steps to make a seat at the table for lived expertise to create legislative and policy change.
Biography
Jane Matts
BA(Hons), Graduate Diploma in Education, Masters Commerce (Advanced Human Resources) and Law student. Jane is an experienced advocate who was a founding member of the DVNSW Voices for Change programme with 18 other brave and courageous people. She is a former transformational change manager and University Dean, having worked on international change projects primarily in banking and finance. Jane has been a media advisor on key projects such as SBS See What You Made Me Do series in 2021. She is a passionate advocate, pushing for the development of a national peak body for Lived expertise. Her area of focus is family law reform.
Daina Harvey
Daina Harvey is a mother of three boys aged 8, 10 and 12, and has lived experience in dealing with the way in which family and domestic violence and trauma is represented in the family law court system. As a member of Sisters In Law, Daina has spoken in an advocacy role to the Committee for the New South Wales Inquiry into Coercive Control and to other members of parliament and experts working within the field of domestic violence. Daina is able to draw on her own lived experience, and that of other mothers she has worked with, to see and understand systemic issues within the family law field and identify areas where change could lead to better outcomes for children. This includes the way in which coercive control is viewed and represented; how trauma caused by abuse is represented; the need for increased transparency and accountability in decision making; and how to better integrate the state mandate for the welfare and protection of children with the role of the family law court.
Rachel Mandile
Rachel is a fully qualified Student Welfare Officer in Wagga Wagga where she sees the impact of trauma and domestic violence as a key issue for children that needs reform. From her own experience she realises that there needs to be better ways to manage abuse, especially in family law. Rachel is the founder of Taster Properties in Wagga Wagga which is like a menshed for young people, and offers valuable insights as it relates to NSW regional issues in the management of abuse.
