Reference no: EM133173358

SAP103 Introduction to Welfare Law

Case study A

Vashti is a community services worker. She works as an assessment officer with the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA). It is Vashti's job to help clients complete their application for a NDIS support package and to process the completed application for approval.

Bob is Vashti's client. He is a 45-year-old man with motor neuron disease. The physical impairments he experiences are getting significantly worse. When he met with Vashti, he was in a wheelchair and unable to hold the pen to sign his name on the application form or open the door to exit Vashti's office.

At the time of his appointment with Vashti, Bob's long-term partner and full-time carer Jack was waiting for him outside the office to take Bob home. Vashti feels uncomfortable talking with Bob about his partner Jack, so she asked Jack to wait outside in the car park until she finished speaking with Bob. Vashti doesn't think it's right for two men to be in a marriage like relationship together.

During the appointment, Bob made a request under the National Disability Insurance Scheme Act 2013 (Cth) (‘the Act') to become a participant in the National Disability Scheme (the NDIS) and receive a support package.

It is Vashti's job to decide whether Bob meets the criteria to access the scheme. There is an age criterion, a residency criterion, and a disability criterion. At 45 years of age Bob meets the age criterion. He is an Australian Citizen who resides in Australia. Bob provided Vashti with his birth certificate and a certified copy of his passport as evidence of his Australian citizenship. Bob also provided Vashti with a copy of his medical assessment that was conducted 1 year ago when he was first diagnosed with Motor Neuron Disease. At the time he was first diagnosed Bob was still working as a high school teacher and coaching the school soccer team.

The disability requirement in the Act is difficult for Vashti to apply given the old medical assessment that Bob has provided. The legal criteria require a person's disability to result in a permanent impairment that substantially reduces functional capacity. If Vashti relies on the old medical assessment, she will reject Bob's application. She can see from her interview with Bob that he would clearly meet this criterion because he now has very limited functional capacity. Vashti finds that she has a dilemma in making her decision and can't choose these two causes of action.

Question 1. Apply the Ethical Decision Framework and describe the steps that Vashti could take to guide her in making her decision?

Question 2. Identify two principles of administrative law that Vashti should apply in making her decision, and describe what Vashti needs to do in applying each of these two rules.

Case study B.

Glenda is scheduled to appear before a state based administrative tribunal to challenge a maintenance claim made against her by the government office for public housing. Glenda has been asked to pay her local housing office $10,000 to cover the cost of re-painting and repairing the holes in the door and walls of her the public housing unit.

Victor is a community service worker employed by a government run social service organisation. He is assisting Glenda with employment and other welfare matters. Glenda discloses to Victor that her then boyfriend punched holes in the walls and doors of the unit when he visited her. This constitutes third party damage and, according to the law of the state, Glenda is not liable to pay for this damage to the property.

Glenda has since married her boyfriend and now lives with him at his parents' house while they save money to buy their own house. She does not want her in-laws to know that her husband is violent towards her and doesn't want to tell the tribunal that he caused the damage to the unit. She has no money of her own to pay for the damage and has no access to money. Her husband controls the family finances.

Glenda asks Victor to come with her to the upcoming tribunal hearing as her support person.

Victor is very concerned that Glenda will admit to having caused the damage to the property because she is afraid to disclose the family violence. Victor thinks that the tribunal will order her to pay for the repairs, which she is not lawfully required to pay.

Q 1. Is Victor able to advise Glenda on residential tenancy law and how it applies in Glenda's circumstances? Give a reason for your answer?

Q 2. What process would Victor need to follow to obtain Glenda's informed consent to disclose her experience of family violence and third-party damage to the tribunal?

Q 3. Can Victor disclose to the tribunal that Glenda has experienced family violence without Glenda having consented to such a disclosure? In your answer refer only to theCommonwealth Privacy Act 1988 and in particular exception s 16A.

Q 4. What type of assistance could Victor provide at the upcoming Tribunal hearing, and what type or service could Victor refer Glenda to for further support on the day of her hearing?

Case study C
Joan is three months pregnant. She separated from her husband a week before she attended her appointment with the prenatal health nurse. During her interview with the nurse Joan disclosed that her separation had occurred following a family violence incident with the baby's father and the police had attended. The nurse referred Jessie to the MABLES Program and arranged for the family violence advocate and family violence lawyer to speak with Jessie immediately.

During her meeting with the family violence advocate and family lawyer, both workers discussed with Joan her options should the family violence continue. Joan was informedby the lawyer about her option to apply for a court order to protect her from experiencingany further family violence. The advocate helped Joan to put together a safety plan.

In your answer to Questions 1, 2 and 3 below please refer to the required readings from Week 1 and Week 2, namely:

Reading 1: Kennedy, R., Richards, J., & Leiman, T. (2016). Law and human services: together and apart. In R, Kennedy, J. Richards, & T. Leiman (Eds.), Integrating Human Service Law, Ethics and Practice (4th ed., pp. 19-42). Oxford University Press Australia.

Reading 2: Eastern Community Legal Centre (2019). "It couldn't have come at a better time" Early Intervention Family Violence Legal Assistance. Box Hill VIC: Eastern Community Legal Service Inc.

Question 1. Discuss the benefits to Joan in attending an integrated program such as MABELS compared to Joan accessing each of the three service types at separate locations and on different days?

Question 2. What is Integration, and why integrate health, human and legal service provision?

Question 3. Identify and describe three tensions that can challenge human service workers when they work with lawyers?