Integrating Human Service Law Practice

by Kennedy, Rosemary; Richards, Jenny

• ISBN13: 9780195517811
• ISBN10: 0195517814
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-10-21
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

This study addresses the legal rights, obligations, and responsibilities of human service workers and to a lesser extent, some areas of substantive human service client-related law.

Table of Contents

Figures and Table	ix
Abbreviations	x
Acknowledgments	xi
Part I: Relationship between law and human services
1 Setting the Scene	3	(8)
Intentions	3	(1)
Audience	4	(2)
Genesis	6	(1)
Terminology	6	(1)
Assumptions about legal knowledge	7	(1)
Structure and approach	8	(1)
Positions and themes	9	(1)
Some useful web sites	10	(1)
2 Law and Human Service Nexus	11	(17)
Client problems and beyond	11	(3)
Integrate what and why?	14	(10)
Law and human services: an uneasy co-existence	24	(3)
Key points for practice	27	(1)
Some useful web sites	27	(1)
3 Incorporating Law into Human Service Work	28	(15)
Integrating law in thinking and decision-making	28	(1)
Influences on human service worker decision-making	29	(7)
These influences in interaction	36	(2)
Making integrated decisions in practice	38	(1)
Key points for practice	39	(1)
Some useful web sites	39	(4)
Part II: Legal obligations, rights, and regulation of human service workers
4 Professional, Business, and Employment Matters	43	(18)
Behind the scenes of service delivery	43	(1)
Professional profile	44	(5)
Taking care of business	49	(4)
Contract law	53	(3)
Employment law	56	(3)
Key points for practice	59	(1)
Some useful web sites	60	(1)
5 Getting It Wrong	61	(18)
More than a legal duty of care	61	(1)
Rules and standards of conduct in the human services	62	(2)
Infringements and the law	64	(11)
Complaints and investigatory bodies	75	(1)
A mosaic of expectations, risks, and possible outcomes	76	(1)
Key points for practice	77	(1)
Some useful web sites	77	(2)
6 Managing Information	79	(17)
What does managing information mean?	79	(1)
Interaction of human service practice and law	80	(2)
Collecting (or acquiring) and amending information	82	(1)
Recording information	82	(1)
Storing information	83	(1)
Permitting or denying access to information	84	(8)
Whistleblowing	92	(2)
Key points for practice	94	(1)
Some useful web sites	95	(1)
7 Workers, Courts, and Tribunals	96	(19)
Images and anxieties	96	(1)
Courts, similar bodies, and dispute resolution	97	(1)
Scope of human service activity in courts and tribunals	98	(3)
Court processes, evidence, and witnesses	101	(5)
Preparing court and tribunal reports	106	(1)
Preparing to appear	107	(2)
Actually giving evidence	109	(1)
Accompanying others attending court	110	(1)
Key points for practice	110	(1)
Some useful web sites	111	(4)
Part III: Service delivery-diverse populations and jurisdictions
8 Crimes and Victims	115	(19)
Features of the criminal justice system	115	(1)
What is crime?	116	(2)
Criminal law in Australia	118	(4)
Juvenile justice	122	(5)
Victims of crime	127	(1)
Family violence	127	(5)
Key points for practice	132	(1)
Some useful web sites	132	(2)
9 Families and Children	134	(18)
The centrality of an interdisciplinary perspective	134	(1)
Marriage and divorce	135	(3)
Family law and children	138	(3)
Child protection legislation	141	(4)
Child protection definitions, proceedings, and advocacy	145	(5)
Key points for practice	150	(1)
Some useful web sites	151	(1)
10 Difference and Vulnerability	152	(17)
Big questions of rights, needs, and welfare	152	(3)
Discrimination and harassment	155	(4)
Disability and the law	159	(1)
Guardianship and administration	159	(3)
Mental health	162	(2)
Refugees and asylum seekers	164	(2)
Key points for practice	166	(1)
Some useful web sites	167	(2)
11 Housing and Finance	169	(16)
Beyond legal responses	169	(1)
Debt management	170	(3)
Consumer protection	173	(1)
Income support	174	(5)
Housing and accommodation	179	(4)
Key points for practice	183	(1)
Some useful web sites	184	(1)
12 Practising with Confidence	185	(4)
Reaching equilibrium	185	(2)
Back to the beginning	187	(2)
Appendix 1 Finding and Reading Law	189	(5)
References	194	(17)
Index	211