Crisis help for those parenting second time around
Co-authors Ms Kerdo and Ms Kirkegard, centre, flanked by Head of Law, Professor Jianfu Chen, right and Dr Curran, left.
Federal Attorney-General Robert McClelland, centre, at the West Heidelberg Community Legal Service with Scott Shepherd and Ms Kerdo, right. Other La Trobe Law students, from left, are Jenny Forti, Sarah Notarianni and Rhea Chapple.
Another group of unsung heroes in our society are grandparents and family members who take on parenting a second time around when their children or close relatives are in crisis.
To help them feel less alone and provide practical support, La Trobe University’s Law School – as part of a long-standing outreach program with the West Heidelberg Community Legal Service – has helped prepare a resource booklet.
Produced by the Office of the Child Safety Commissioner, it was co-written by La Trobe Law lecturer and the Legal Service’s Supervising Solicitor, Peggy Kerdo and Sue Kirkegard from the Office of Child Safety.
West Heidelberg Community Legal Service’s new Director, former La Trobe Law lecturer Dr Liz Curran, said: ‘While we need to value such contributions, we also need to ensure that grandparents and family members are clear about their rights and responsibilities, and know how to navigate what can be a complex legal and administrative system.’
The book was launched by former Victorian Premier John Cain, who was just one of the luminaries to visit the Centre recently. The other was Federal Attorney-General, Robert McClelland.
A typical day – not
‘Got to clinic, did a crash course, saw a new client, had lunch with the Attorney-General of Australia. Just a typical day…’
So wrote law student Scott Shepherd after Mr McClelland ‘dropped in’ to the West Heidelberg Community Legal Service.
Ms Kerdo said Mr McClelland came to see how the Service, Banyule Community Health Centre and the University’s clinical legal education program all worked together to provide an integrated community service.
‘He was also keen to hear from our law students how the practical experience of working in a clinical legal environment helped them,’ Ms Kerdo said.
La Trobe has worked with the West Heidelberg Community Legal Service and Banyule Community Health Centre for more than thirty years – and its links run deep.
One of the founding clinical legal educators was Associate Professor Mary Anne Noone, now a board member of the Legal Service, while Dr Liz Curran, the Service’s new Director, ran the student clinic for more than seven years before Ms Kerdo took the helm.
La Trobe Law is trying to re-connect with graduates who were on placement at the Service from 1992. Contact Pamela Taylor- Barnett, email: legal.locum@bchs.org.au.
Legal Issues for Grandparents and Other Relative Carers is available from tel: (03) 8601 5884 or www.ocsc.vic.gov.au.