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New Zealand Family Justice Reforms |
Last Updated: 25 May 2020
Survey about the
Family justice system
Have your say
January 2019
What is in this book?
Page Number
Before you start 4
How to use this survey 5
What is the Family Justice System? 7
What is the Independent Panel? 8
What is in this book?
Page Number
Ways to give your feedback to us 15
Making the family justice system
stronger 18
Survey questions 26
What is in this book?
Page Number
Important things you need to know about your submission 64
Questions about you 73
Thank you 82
Before you start
This is a long document.
While it is written in Easy Read it can be hard for some people to read a document this long.
Some things you can do to make it easier are:
How to use this survey
This is the Easy Read version of Have your say: January 2019 family justice system changes survey.
In this survey there are:
If you want to read the version of this survey that is not in Easy Read you can use this website:
You might need support to read this version of the survey.
What is the family justice system?
The family justice system helps families to work out the best way
to care for their children when parents are not living together.
The Family Justice System includes things like:
What is the Independent
Panel?
This survey has been made by an Independent Panel.
The Independent Panel is a group of 3 people.
The people on the Independent Panel know a lot about the family justice system.
This document was written by:
Rosslyn Noonan is the Chairperson of the Independent Panel.
A letter to you from the Independent Panel
In 2014 some changes were made to the family justice system.
The Minister of Justice has asked the Independent Panel to talk to people who have used the family justice system since 2014.
We need to report back to him about what we find.
In 2018 we asked New Zealand what people thought about the changes.
The Independent Panel asked people:
what is not good about the family justice system?
what to do to make the family justice system better?
We have had meetings around the country with:
people 1 at a time
groups of people.
More than 500 submissions have been given to the Independent Panel.
Submissions tell us what people think about the family justice system.
If you want to read the submissions that we got you can use this website:
https://www.justice.govt.nz/assets/Documents/Publications/Family-Court-Rewrite-Summary-of-Submissions.pdf
The submissions are not written in Easy Read.
You might need support to read them.
The Independent Panel has looked at what people have told us.
Now we are doing this survey to get more feedback.
Feedback is telling us what you think about the changes to the family justice system
Giving us feedback on the family justice system is important.
This is because it will help make the family justice system better for children.
Thank you for:
reading this document
answering our questions about the family justice system
We know that answering some of our questions will be a hard thing to do.
You need to send us this survey back by 1 March 2019.
We will think about all the things people have told us when we make our report for the Minister of Justice.
Our report has to be ready for the Minister of Justice by the end of May 2019.
Ways to give your feedback to us
You can give your feedback to us in different ways.
Use this website address below to fill out a submission form on our website:
https://consultations.justice.govt.nz/policy/strengthening-the-family-justice-system/
The online form is not in
Easy Read.
You might need help from a person you trust to help you fill out our online submission form.
You can email your feedback to us at:
familyjusticereforms@justice.govt.nz
If you would like to post us your feedback please send it in an envelope to the address below:
Family Justice Reforms
SX10088
Wellington 6011
There is a Te Reo Māori version of this document at this website below:
https://www.justice.govt.nz/assets/Documents/Publications/Strengthening-the-family-justice-system-Te-reo.pdf
It is not in Easy Read.
If you have questions about:
send an email to:
FamilyJusticeReforms@justice.govt.nz
Making family justice services stronger
The Independent Panel thinks it is better for children if people can agree on their care without going to court.
Lots of people across New Zealand think things can be done to make the family court services better.
Some people think there are barriers that stop the family court services from being:
A resolution means a way to sort out a disagreement or an argument.
A dispute means a disagreement or an argument.
There are some things that do not make it easy to help parents who are not living together.
We call these things barriers.
The barriers are because of:
Here are some of the problems with the family court services:
services need to be better at helping children and families through family violence
Family violence means when somebody is hurt by another person or people in their family.
Another problem is there is not enough good information that is easy to find and use.
Korowai of the family justice service
The Independent Panel thinks the family court and services should work together better so all families can get access to what they need.
We think the family court and services should be like a korowai or cloak
for:
parents that are not living together anymore
caregivers
whānau who need help to make decisions about their children.
The Independent Panel want it to be easy for people to get the right family justice service in the right way at the right time.
The korowai of the family justice service will make sure people get:
links to community services
the right counselling and therapeutic intervention
to go on Parenting Through Separation programmes
Family Dispute Resolution
The korowai of the Family Justice Service will also make sure people get:
children and young people being heard
to apply to the family court at any time
help from a family justice services coordinator
help from a senior family court registrar
to use easier court processes.
Survey questions
Child safety and wellbeing
The most important thing under the Care of Children law is to make
sure children are safe and well.
What information should be given to the court to check children are safe and well?
When should courts get this information?
What work should family violence workers do in the family court?
Should there be:
family violence workers just for children?
family violence workers just for adults?
Is there anything else you want to say about child safety and wellbeing?
Te Ao Māori in the family court
We have looked at what effect the family justice service has on the
safety and wellbeing of:
and
Should the Ministry of Justice and Government do things to make things better for Māori in the family court?
What kinds of things should the Ministry of Justice and Government do to make things better for Māori in the family court?
What can the Ministry of Justice and Government do to work with hapū,
iwi or Māori organisations to make a better family
justice service for
Māori?
How can tikanga Māori / Māori customs and values be included in
family court?
Is there anything else you want to say about how to make the family
justice service better for Māori?
Good information that is easy
to find and use
Lots of people in New Zealand do not know about:
how to find family justice services
What information will help make the family justice service easier to find
and use?
Counselling and therapeutic intervention
Counselling means someone can get support and advice on what to do about:
Counselling before going to Court was stopped in 2014.
Before 2014 it was normal to go to counselling before going to court.
Therapeutic intervention means when things are done to help someone feel better in their mind.
What counselling services should be available in the family justice system?
Should it be kept secret when someone is told by the court to get therapeutic intervention?
Therapeutic intervention means when things are done to help someone feel better in their mind.
Parenting Through Separation
Parenting Through Separation is a free course for
parents who are not together anymore.
It helps parents understand how their separation affects their children.
Separation means when 2 parents:
Lots of people think Parenting Through Separation is a good thing.
Do you think everyone should have to do the Parenting Through Separation course?
Family Dispute Resolution
Family Dispute Resolution helps parents that are not
living together anymore to agree about the care of their children.
Should people that work in the family justice service tell people about why it is good to use Family Dispute Resolution services more often?
Legal advice and representation
A lawyer is a person who knows about the law.
Legal advice and representation means a lawyer helps a person.
In 2014 people could not get legal advice and representation in some parts of out of court processes.
Out of court processes are things that do not happen inside a court room.
Should people be able to get advice from a lawyer to stop arguments out of the court room?
What needs to be done to make this a good service?
Case tracks and conferences
Case tracks and conferences are things that are supposed to
make in court processes:
fast.
In court processes are things that happen inside a court room.
Without notice applications
Without notice applications are important in the family court
process because they make sure people get help quickly when they need it.
Would it be a good idea to make sure people know that parenting orders made without notice can be cancelled?
Triaging
Triaging means we work out what are the best things to
do next for each person that goes to family court.
What is the best way to make sure we work out what are the best things to do next for each person that goes to family court?
Complex cases
A complex case has many things that make it hard to work out
what to do to make things better.
The Independent Panel has heard that some complex cases are hard to fix.
What therapeutic intervention would be good to use in complex cases?
Therapeutic intervention means when things are done to help someone feel better in their mind.
Cultural information in court
The Law says a court can get information about a child’s culture.
Cultural reports can be asked for by a judge to help the judge make a decision.
Would it be better to get someone to come and talk to the court about a child’s cultural background than getting a written cultural report?
Do you have anything else to say about how the court can get cultural information in a better way?
Family justice services coordinator
The work a family justice services coordinator does has changed over
the years.
Would it be a good idea to have a person work as a family justice services coordinator to help make sure people get connected to the service they need?
Senior family court registrar
We want to make sure people do not have to wait a very long time to
get the family justice service they need.
We think having a senior family court registrar will help this.
What should the senior family court registrar be allowed to do to make things happen faster in the justice system process?
Lawyer for Child
A child can only get a lawyer to help them if the court is worried
about the safety and wellbeing of the child.
Do you agree there should be a checklist to make sure a child gets the best lawyer for them?
What experience would someone need to make them be a good lawyer for a child?
Psychological reports
Psychological reports are reports that give more information about
a person and what they think.
When a report like this is done people can ask for a second opinion report.
A second opinion report means a psychological report done by a different person.
Do we need to give people more information about second opinion reports and what they mean?
What can be done to make the process to get reports better?
When is the best time to get a psychological report done?
Do you have anything else to say about psychological reports?
Costs
People that use a family justice service have to pay for some of the
services.
Should Family Dispute Resolution be paid for by the
Government?
Should Family Dispute Resolution be free for everyone or only for some people?
Important things you need to know about your submission
What happens to your submission?
Your submission means your answers to the questions on this form.
Your submission will be used by the Independent Panel to help us write our report to the Minister of Justice.
The Independent Panel will only share your submission with the Ministry of Justice.
The Official Information Act says that people can ask to see
information that the Government or a government agency has.
Your submission will become official information if you send it to us.
Official information is information that:
This means that somebody could ask for a copy of it under the Official Information Act.
If somebody asks to see your 
information they will not see your:
name
email address
address
other personal information about you.
It is important you tell us:
Court information
When you are answering these questions please do not:
This is to protect the privacy of the people that are part of your case.
It is important your submission does not say private information about you or others.
Private information is anything about a person that makes it easy to know who a person is.
Privacy
Collecting your personal information
The Ministry of Justice will:
keep your information safe
only use your personal information to support the Independent Panel to make their report about the changes to the family justice system.
The Ministry of Justice will only get personal information about you that you choose to share.
You can choose not to share your personal email address when you give the
Ministry of Justice your submission.
You can read information about the Ministry of Justice’s privacy
policy.
Please visit this website below:
https://consultations.justice.govt.nz/privacy_policy
This information is not in Easy Read.
Information about you
You can ask to see any information the Ministry of Justice has about you at
any time.
You can ask the Ministry of Justice to make changes to the information they
have about you.
To see the information the Ministry of Justice has about you:
send an email to: privacy@justice.govt.nz
or
phone: 04 918 8800
or
send a letter to:
Privacy Officer
Ministry of Justice
PO Box 180
Wellington
The Ministry of Justice will not share your information with anyone else unless:
you said it is OK for the Ministry of Justice to share your information with
someone else
Questions about you
On the next few pages are some questions about you.
Only answer the questions you want to answer.
What is your name?
How old are you?
What is your gender?
Male
Female
Other
What is your culture?
What area of New Zealand do you live in?
What services have you used?
Parenting Through separation
Family Legal Advice service
Family Dispute Resolution
Family Court
Lawyer for the child
a lawyer.
Please say what other Family Justice system services you have used:
specialist report writer
counsellor
something else.
Please tell us any other family justice services you have used:
How were you related to the child or children in the family dispute?
parent
guardian
grandparent
whānau / family
In some other way.
Please say in what other way you were related:
Do you work for the family justice service?
No I do not work for the family justice service
Yes I do work for the family justice service:
I work for Parenting Through Separation
I work for a Family Legal Advice Service
I work for Family Dispute Resolution
I am a Specialist report writer
I am a lawyer for a child
I am a lawyer for adults
I am a Counsellor
I work for the family court
I work as something else for the family justice service.
Please say what your job is in the family justice service:
Thank you
Thank you for taking the time to read and answer questions about the
March 2019 changes to the family justice system.
Your feedback is important to us.
This information has been translated into Easy Read by the
Make It Easy service of
People First New Zealand Inc. Ngā Tāngata Tuatahi.
The ideas in this document are not the ideas of People First New Zealand Ngā Tāngata Tuatahi.
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