A good news story!

A mum that was proactive and approached Jannawi to support her on getting her kids back has finally had restoration paperwork lodged in the Children’s Court. It is planned for her two youngest children aged 3 and 5 years to be returned to her care by Christmas.

She called almost 20 months ago on recommendation from another client we had supported and begged us to help her. There was no other service that could provide her with the counselling support and case management and whilst we no longer offer restoration services, we decided to provide support. It demonstrates the gap in the service system, and we wonder where other victims of violence go for support when their children have been removed and placed in the system.

This family currently has 5 children placed in 3 different placements. The youngest two have had 3 placements in 2 years and 2 different schools/childcare centres- and this is for one of the children aged 5 years who started kindergarten this year. The eldest child aged 14 years is in a high need out of home care placement where she runs away on a weekly basis and is not attending school or receiving any therapeutic support as she doesn’t want to attend counselling. She is regularly involved with Police and had a stay at a juvenile detention facility a few months ago. She is not adequately cared for or supervised and has attempted many times to return home to mum.

The systems abuse of mum and all her children has been extraordinary and it has tested us as a service to continue to work collaboratively and advocate for all the children’s need to be met. This story also highlights the specialist work required for restoration to be granted- with regards to the complex legal requirements, understanding the needs of the Court, supporting women in their role of mothers and the important need to advocate for women who are victims of violence who have their children removed from their care. She has shown such dedication to her children, putting in a huge effort each week, turning up for counselling and 2x weekly contact visits, almost giving up when each time new hoops are put before her to jump through by a system that is not trauma or DFV informed. We are so proud of her and are very excited for the family’s future.