Picture this: A mother who had recently escaped the family home with her child because of domestic violence, was driving past the house when a sign outside caught her eye: For Sale - Under Offer. Blindsided by the situation – she was still contributing to the mortgage – she needed help urgently to take action against the pending sale, which she knew, based on her ex-partner’s history, would have devastating financial ramifications for her and her child.
For our Family Advocacy and Support Service (FASS) team this kind of urgent, high-risk scenario is a very familiar one, and one they are very experienced at handling. The expertise of this team in urgent situations has been developed over decades.
Twenty years ago, the Family Court of Western Australia began hosting one of the first Family Court duty lawyer services in Australia, called Family Court Services (FCS). The service, provided by Legal Aid WA, consisted of two lawyers and a coordinator, and operated as a satellite office providing legal information, advice representation and referrals to Legal Aid WA and other legal and non-legal services. Julie Jackson, Director of our Early Intervention Services Division, was one of the original FCS duty lawyers, and remembers the early days of providing the FCS in 2005.
“From the beginning, the service focused on helping people in situations of family breakdown to access the assistance they needed. This ranged from people who might have just separated, thinking they might need to file something at the Court, to those in urgent circumstances requiring advice, preparation of court documents and representation in court for matters such as recovery orders and injunctions.
“The great support and wonderful working relationship we have with the Court has been integral to the success of the service - including those urgent applications at 4pm on a Friday afternoon.
“As a family lawyer it is a very rewarding experience to be able to assist clients to achieve positive outcomes for them and their children in their current crisis, and then link them in for the further legal and non-legal help they need.”
Growth of the Service
In 2017, as a consequence of high rates of family and domestic violence across the nation, the Australian Government under the Third Action Plan of the National Plan to Reduce Family Violence against Women and their Children 2010-2022, funded Legal Aid Commissions across Australia to establish an integrated duty lawyer and social support service, named Family Advocacy and Support Service (FASS).
This was recognition that many families involved in family law matters attending family courts have complex needs and may be involved in matters across the family law, child protection, and family violence systems needing legal help to manage these issues. At Legal Aid WA, FASS was immediately integrated with FCS to provide one seamless, holistic legal and social support service to clients in need.
The significant funding boost in 2017 led to an expansion of the team and service, both in terms of capacity and service locations to include all Family Court of WA regional Magistrates circuits.
Now in 2025, our FASS team consists of seven lawyers, three paralegals, and two social support workers at the Family Court of WA, with a management team and Child and Family Experts based at Legal Aid WA’s Perth head office.
Our FASS lawyers visit Albany, Bunbury, Kalgoorlie, Geraldton, and Broome, delivering the holistic service in partnership with local social support organisations in each region, and local legal services where there is capacity. Engaging local services for social support is essential due to the connection and understanding of the local community and culture, as well as the knowledge of supports that are available and appropriate for FASS clients.
FASS Duty Lawyer Jeremy said the regional circuits can be extremely busy.
“Bunbury runs 11 times a year and Geraldton, while only running three times a year, has long lists that can include complex matters. The opportunity to negotiate a settlement or ensure children are safe can be rewarding but most importantly, FASS visits to regional centres mean people in regional areas have access to services in the same way they might in Perth.
“We also help people by phone in remote areas. I helped an elderly Aboriginal woman in a remote community to obtain a recovery order for her grandson without ever meeting her, simply by taking instructions over the phone, drafting her documents and appearing in court for her”.
The combination of lawyers, paralegals, and social support workers in the FASS team play three key roles for clients.
The first point of contact for a client is with paralegal staff, who provide the triaging service of this “Emergency Department for Family Law matters”. Paralegals swiftly identify the most pressing needs of the client while gauging their non-legal needs, the majority of which are complex cases. For most FASS clients, it is the first time that they have been in the Family Court, the situation is often highly emotional, frequently with children at serious risk, so being able to extract key information while putting the client at ease is a honed skill of our paralegal staff.
The second role is played by Social Support Workers who provide whatever support is needed by that client at that time. From listening to a client unburdening a history of abuse, to investigating and explaining crisis accommodation options, to the physical support of holding a trembling hand in the court room, the social support worker provides essential support, letting the client know that they are not alone.
The impact of social support workers: Case study
Our social support worker in collaboration with the FASS duty lawyer provided a trauma-sensitive, domestic and family violence informed service to *Anna, a Mum who attended Family Court one morning, feeling fearful, confused and in crisis. The social support worker provided emotional support to Anna as she unpacked her story of domestic and family violence, homelessness, and her increasing concerns for her children. The social support worker assisted Anna throughout the court hearing, holding her hand as she quietly cried. They also reminded her of her strengths as a survivor of domestic and family violence and provided her with guidance regarding specialist services to help her stay safe and begin to heal.
Anna left the court with a Family Violence Restraining Order, a comprehensive safety plan, and a referral to an outreach domestic and family violence service, together with the knowledge that the next time she is in court the FASS Social Support Worker will be by her side.
Finally, the duty lawyer is someone that the client can rely on to stand up for them – something that a client may not have experienced in a very long time. The FASS lawyers, in addressing the legal needs of the client, make the other party accountable and work to safeguard the client’s rights in these most serious and complex matters.
The future
The FASS has recently received Commonwealth funding that has allowed the service to expand again, in particular to extend support to people with mental health issues who are trying to navigate the family court system. The funding has allowed us to employ dedicated mental health support workers who receive referrals from FASS paralegals and lawyers, Family Court of Western Australia judicial officers, other court staff, and stakeholders. They can assist our clients with a range of issues including mental health concerns, counselling, family violence, victim support services, and behaviour change programs.
As the service has expanded, the speed at which the FASS team can address legal matters and provide outcomes for clients is remarkable, and unparalleled in private practice. This is due in part to the IT systems used, the processes established by the team, and their dedication to each client they serve. They process a high volume of recovery orders, urgent injunctions, Family Violence Restraining Orders and more, delivering outcomes for their clients often on the same day. As of 24 March 2025, Family Court Services had provided 20,779 duty lawyer services to vulnerable and disadvantaged family law clients across the State.
For the client who saw her house for sale and under offer, the FASS team were able to process an urgent injunction to stop the sale of the property, and give the client peace of mind that she would be able to make living arrangements for herself and her child without the fear of having her share of the assets taken by her ex-partner.
