A Legal Aid ACT duty solicitor service for parents and grandparents in care and protection proceedings has been funded as part of the ACT budget.
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The new initiative has been funded for a year at $201,000.
It will be up and running by August, Legal Aid ACT chief executive John Boersig said.
The announcement comes after concerns the ACT government was pitting parents against teams of tax-payer funded barristers, which is at odds with a system that aims to support children remaining with their families, where it is safe to do so.
The government will also establish a Therapeutic Care Court for care and protection matters heard within the Children's Court.
"This will provide court-led interventions for parents whose children have been removed from their care, or are at risk of being removed, and seek to achieve re-unification and address parental substance abuse issues, parenting capacity issues, family violence, and mental health issues," the budget papers said.
The initiative is being offset by Confiscated Assets Trust funding.
Mr Boersig said these initiatives were great news.
"It means anyone that turns up can talk to a lawyer," he said.
"We haven't been able to provide a duty service there in the past. Lots of people just turn up and are unrepresented."
"The fact that it's aiming to keep children and families together, where that can be done safety, and to help build the structure of the family, that is very positive."
Mr Boersig said these kinds of strategies that aim to effectively keep children with their family are to be applauded, particularly considering the high rates of Aboriginal children going into foster care.
"It looks at the interests of the child in the context of the whole family environment. This is particularly important for Aboriginal kids where there are cultural issues at play."