Civil Law Report: Social Justice Case and Client Advocacy - HSSW513

This report presents a case study concerning Jen, a client facing legal issues stemming from past trauma, homelessness, gambling, and difficulties with parenting. The report, directed to a solicitor and the court, outlines the agency's involvement and the client's history, including criminal activity linked to her mental state. It highlights the services provided, the legal aspects of the case, and the potential impact of incarceration on Jen and her children, including a disabled child. The report recommends custodial intervention with a focus on rehabilitation and mental health treatment, advocating for a forensic patient status and considering the principles of forensic mental health. It concludes with the potential for Jen's rehabilitation and her partner Mick's need for substance abuse treatment, emphasizing the importance of addressing their needs for the well-being of their family. The report includes a bibliography of relevant legal and mental health resources.

university
Report to the Solicitor
Social Justice
Student Credentials
4/6/2020

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Report
Introduction
The case here is concerning Jen, the lady who had arrived at the agency for some
counselling sessions in order to deal with the trauma she had suffered in past. Though, there
have been incidences of criminal activity such as theft and burglary on her part, but, all this
has been a result of the trauma she suffered while trying to survive the streets along with
which she was also doing gambling. Due to mental issues she has been facing difficulty
parenting the two children. The audience, to which this report is directed to, is the solicitor
himself as well as the court. The main aim of this report is to provide what information the
agency as well as agent has regarding the client and her family in reference with the case that
has been going on against the client.
I was appointed to counsel Jen, Mick, Hanna and Bessie through Marigold
Community Centre at Glenaurie. The main aim behind this organization is to help people like
Jen and Mick overcome the obstacles and lead them in a direction where there is better
future. The programs that this organization offers helps the members in various ways by
providing services that help build a better and safe community, now this can be done through
counselling, taking a legal action or whatever means. I have been doing such social work that
involves dealing with issues related to homeless ness amongst people, their housing issues,
providing emotional and social support to the young parents like Mick and Jen, providing
parenting skills to people as such, dealing with people like Jen who have gambling issues,
assisting people with household as well as money related issues and also helping out people
like Mick to come over their addictions especially the ones related to substance abuse as well
as other relationship related issues as in the case of Mick and Jen. I have been working at the
centre since past three years after I completed my social work qualification.

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Services Provided
The services provided to Jen during her time with the agency included just the getting
counselled part and the agency was helping her build her life from scratch by all fair means.
She was guided to make amends and was also counselled as to how to be a better parent to
her children. She was also guided how to heal her relationship with Mick. Her past history
was also discussed during the counselling sessions that included her confessing to criminal
acts such as minor dishonesty and fraud in general, though she did not give a detailed idea
about any of them, but she talked about her mental state in depth. The way she was struggling
for surviving as well as keep her family intact shows that she wants to give her life a fresh
start rather than being cooped up in a prison cell. She needs regular mental treatments and
counselling sessions in order to help her out. By the involvement of agency only the
counselling sessions were provided and apart from that, no other service was provided to Jen
and her family.
Legal Aspect
The information that has been relayed on me by Jen is too generic regarding the Acts
she has committed, and also the laws in Australia take in consideration the mental state of the
criminal first before convicting any accused person. The laws regarding dishonesty
specifically are too generic under the Commonwealth and specifically talk about the mental
state that the criminal was in during the time of committing a crime. Under the 134 and 135
of the Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth), the accusation on Jen is just an additional one and there
is no crime with grave repercussions such as violence or abuse took place. This is why,
proving the guilt especially with her state of mind would be difficult (Gregoire & Nedim,
2020).
Apart from this, Jen a huge traumatic history which is why her state of mind will not
be able to survive in the prison, this is the reason why she committed the grave mistake of

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committing those acts in the first place. Here I would recommend you to take action that is
just custodial and provide her with a specific time in rehabilitation centre for further
treatment. Also she has no extra financial help that will yield you those $ 70,000 that you
plan on charging her for her criminal behaviour. She has children to look after as well. One of
her children is disabled as well and that already makes her question herself if she is dealing
with everything just fine or not.
Outline of an intervention regarding Jen and her family
Both the parents’ need some rehabilitation time as well as custodial term and Jen
specifically needs some for her gambling addiction as it will help her improve for her
children. Being locked up will lead to another life for those children as they will be
transferred to some foster home by the system which might not be a better option for their
upbringing since one of the children is disabled, he is Autistic. Her mental state currently is
not up to the mark for being sent to the prison and her diagnoses can be done by a certified
practitioner as well. She is a ‘forensic patient’ as per the Mental Health Act 2007 and the
Mental Health (Forensic Provisions) Act 1990 (Mental Health Review Tribunal, 2019). Even
under the National Statement of Principles for Forensic Mental Health the panel will have to
reconsider the whole case (Parliament of Australia, 2020).
I can just provide a conclusion based on what I was told and what she communicated
to me and nothing else. You know your work better. But, all I wish to conclude is Jen has a
great potential to be a better human, be a better parent to her children as well as mend her
relationships. We have already informed her of all the negative things that can happen to her
as well as to her loved ones as a result of her gambling addiction, she knows everything too
well. Her partner Mick as well needs some rehabilitation time as he is addicted to meth and
continuing the substance abuse in front of their children can lead to very harmful effects.

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Bibliography
Gregoire, P., & Nedim, U. (2020, February 4). Australia: Dishonesty offences under the
Commonwealth Criminal Code Act. Retrieved April 7, 2020, from Mondaq:
https://www.mondaq.com/australia/Criminal-Law/889874/Dishonesty-offences-
under-the-Commonwealth-Criminal-Code-Act
Mental Health Review Tribunal. (2019, July 18). Forensic Procedures. Retrieved April 07,
2020, from Mental Health Review Tribunal: https://mhrt.nsw.gov.au/forensic-
patients/forensic-procedures.html
Parliament of Australia. (2020). Mental health and the criminal justice system. Retrieved
April 7, 2020, from Parliament of Australia:
https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Former_Commit
tees/mentalhealth/report/c13