A Court Hearing for an Interim Intervention Order - Case Study Example

Introduction

This case study will focus on a court hearing for an interim intervention order delivered by the police to Jeff Brown as a consequence of assault charges against him heard in Adelaide Magistrates Court (Intervention Order Application, 2002). The Adelaide Magistrates Court is a family violence court that deals with the criminality of domestic violence and the necessity for men to recognize and take accountability for their mistreatment and violence against women and children. This case study will give a comprehensive evaluation of the case summary, the applicable legislature, and the magistrate’s court decision on the case. Social justice and ethical issues and the role of human service workers in cases like this will also be discussed in detail.

Case synopsis

Mr Brown is Mrs Brown’s husband who has been accused of controlling behaviour by his wife. On the evening of the incident, Mrs Brown came home from picking their children from school (Intervention Order Application, 2002). The adults got into a fight as Mr Brown questioned his wife about where she was the whole of the evening because she was not home when he got there. While Mrs Brown tries to explain, Mr Brown starts hitting her in front of their children (Intervention Order Application, 2002). The court heard that Mr Brown took Mrs Brown by the hair, pushed her head to the wall and struck her across the face. Mr Brown also twisted his wife’s arms really bad that she had to seek medical attention. Their neighbour, Yolanda Smith, called the police about the violence in Brown’s house. The police came, arrested Mr Brown and charged him with assault (Intervention Order Application, 2002). The police also put an intervention order on Mr Brown which prevented him from coming close to Mrs Brown or the children.

Identification

The Intervention Orders (Prevention of Abuse) Act 2009 was used to charge the defendant in this case. Mr Brown was charged with assault and issued with intervention orders by the court. Under section 3 (8) (1) (1) (a) defines abuse as any act intended to cause physical hurt or results in physical injury. Mr Brown assaulted Mrs Brown resulting to physical injuries that required medical treatment. This resulted in police issuing an interim intervention order to the defendant. According to Section 3 (1) (6) (a), an intervention order is issued against a person who will carry out an act of assault against an individual in absence of the intervention. Tracey (Mrs Brown) has experienced abuse from her husband and in the absence of the intervention order; continued harm could meet her and her children. In section 3(1) (7) (1) (a, b), protection is given to anyone who may be affected by the incidence of mistreatment by the suspect including children who witnessed the act. The Intervention Orders (Prevention of Abuse) Act 2009 section 3 (1) (13) (1) also requires an individual to undertake an evaluation by an intervention program supervisor to decide the defendant’s eligibility for intervention programs. In this case, Mr Brown was advised to seek help from a domestic violence prevention program that will help him deal with situations better.

Intervention

The hearing was an intervention order hearing because Mr Brown had been issued with an interim intervention order by the police during his arrest. An intervention order prohibits the defendant from contacting victims of abuse or damaging any property belonging to the victim (Danis, 2003b). The magistrate gave Mr Brown two choices; either consent to the intervention order being in place with no chance of changing it for an entire year or an adjournment of the order while Mr Brown solicits for advice. The magistrate adjourned the intervention order issued to Mr Brown to allow him to solicit advice on the issue. The magistrate allowed bail for the defendant with the condition that he does not go near their house or contact his wife through any means. However, Mr Brown could contact his wife to decide what will happen to their children.

The magistrate also told the respondent that he needed to acquire better ways of handling his relationships. To help in this, the court offered a program in domestic violence prevention allows men to learn improved ways of handling relationships with spouses and everybody else. The court also ordered the respondent to take a contact number so as to assess whether he was suitable for the program as required by the law.

Human service worker roles, knowledge and skills

According to Kirst-Ashman and Hull (2011), social work has some purposes. The first aim is to boost problem-solving skills and the survival capabilities of individuals. Men and women involved in domestic violence may experience problems with their current situations. Men often result to violence when situations are not favourable. Social workers can use this approach and equip both men and women with proper coping skills as well as problem-solving skills. Social work also connects people with the proper systems that provide them with proper services and resources. Battered women and their children often need to be protected against an abusive partner. Social work will provide these women with the safe avenues where they can be assured of their safety. Social workers also provide abusive men with intervention programs (resources) that can help them cope with issues such as anger management. Social work has the responsibility of ensuring that the systems that work for the people remain humane and effective (Kirst-Ashman & Hull, 2011). Social workers also work hard to help in improvement of social policies that help individuals deal with their everyday problems (Danis, 2003b).

A service worker working with survivors of domestic violence needs to have knowledge in some key areas. One of the important areas of knowledge is the feminist perspective because domestic violence has major effects on the woman. The feminist perspective focuses on deciphering the social policies and the political arena to understand what hinders women from leading unrestricted and productive lives (Kirst-Ashman & Hull, 2011). The service worker must be aware of the oppression and should be willing to fight on behalf of the oppressed women for better social and political representation (Kirst-Ashman & Hull, 2011). According to Danis (2003b), domestic violence is a result of a male-controlled societal structure that gives males power to control their female spouses.

The empowerment approach is also very important to social workers (Danis, 2003a). Social workers should be equipped with different methodologies that they will use in raising awareness and consciousness of oppressed individuals such as women who are domestic violence victims (Lee, 2010). The empowerment approach requires the social worker to maintain a holistic approach towards oppression (Midgley, 1995). This means dealing with the individual as well as the root of the entire problem to finally solve it completely (Lee, 2010). Empowered people working together are very strong and have the ability to deal with everybody including those in power.

Many women go through domestic violence but are ashamed to report because of the humiliation (Danis, 2003a). Some of these women are even afraid of telling their friends about the violence against them to avoid unnecessary judgement. Human service workers dealing with domestic violence survivors need to possess important skills that will not make the survivor feel humiliated. Skills can be micro, mezzo or macro (Kirst-Ashman & Hull, 2011). Micro skills enable individuals to form working relationships while macro skills enable social workers to work on behalf of populations (Kirst-Ashman & Hull, 2011). Mezzo skills help individuals work effectively in groups.

Engagement enables individuals to strike an initial relationship with clients that will be fruitful. The service workers utilize proper communication skills through verbal and non-verbal skills to create a relationship that creates trust between them and the client (Kirst-Ashman & Hull, 2011). Therefore, it is also vital for service workers to possess communication skills that will help in a successful engagement. Communications will domestic violence a survivor requires some type of engagement between the client and the service worker (Danis, 2003a). The survivor needs to trust the service worker completely to accept any type of help from them (Kirst-Ashman & Hull, 2011).

It is also important for a service worker to have empathy. Empathy gives the social worker the ability to identify with another person’s current situation (Kirst-Ashman & Hull, 2011). An empathetic social worker will have an easier understanding of people’s problems and help them solve their issues amicably (Midgley & Conley, 2010). A woman who goes through domestic violence needs to work with someone who understands her situation without casting any judgement. This means that a social worker needs to have a non-judgemental attitude.

Women in domestic violence cases come from different cultures (Danis, 2003a). Having cultural competency skills is vital to understand the social indications and cultural behaviours (Midgley & Conley, 2010). Some clients may lack the ability to properly communicate their needs and require the social worker to interpret what they say. (Kirst-Ashman & Hull, 2011) noted that it is imperative that service workers are culture conscious so that they can understand the basis of abuse. Cultural competency together with proper assessment skills will help social workers decipher and analyse situations to come up with the best intervention for their current problem.

Social justice and ethical issues

According to the code of ethics of Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW) of 2010, social justice supports the notion that justice within a society is not only achieved through administrative means but also through every facet of the society. The social work profession works towards promoting justice and social fairness to everybody through reduction of obstacles and expansion of choices (Midgley & Conley, 2010). Women are among the disadvantages, oppressed and vulnerable populations around the world. In a majority of countries, women are subjected to domestic violence due to cultural beliefs (Kirst-Ashman & Hull, 2011). Mrs Brown, in the case presented, was battered continuously and had a controlling husband. Social workers have the responsibility of ensuring that women such as Mrs Brown get justice and expand their life choices.

Social workers should work towards breaking all economic, social and political barriers (Midgley & Conley, 2010; Ross, 2011) that prevent women such as Mrs Brown achieve independence and productive lives. As indicated earlier, social workers need to have cultural competency skills. These skills will help in interpreting different situations that bring about inequalities and injustices in social systems (O’Brien, 2011; Ross, 2011). By doing this, they will be working towards breaking the barriers that have been put by social structures and promote social justice (Ross, 2011). Human service workers should oppose and work towards the elimination of all violations of human, civil, and political rights (Midgley & Conley, 2010). Criminalization of domestic violence (Danis, 2003b) is one of the major steps in Australia towards the achievement of social justice. Women and children can now be protected from abuse by the issuance of intervention orders. This is a great move towards protecting a vulnerable part of the population and achieving a more just society (Ross, 2011). It is also interesting to note that in the case discussed in this paper, the magistrate gives the man (defendant) a chance to change for the better. Acquiring a completely just society means everybody should be given equal opportunities (O’Brien, 2011).

In the process of social justice achievement, it is required that every individual including social workers address social issues that might arise as a result of the process (Midgley & Conley, 2010). Numerous ethical dilemmas might arise when social workers are trying to work towards solutions (Barry, 2009). Ethical decision-making is encouraged in case any dilemma arises. The code of ethics provides by AASW (2010) provides the social workers with a guide on the best conduct expected of them. Social work values include respect for people, social justice and professional integrity (Ross, 2011). In case of domestic violence, it is important that the information of the client remains confidential. It would be unethical of social workers to provide a client’s confidential information to third parties. Domestic violence survivors as stated before could have fear of humiliation and stigmatization. Before the acquisition of confidential information from clients, it is also vital for the human service worker to get informed consent (AASW, 2010; Barry, 2011). Informed consent is important to make sure that a social worker is not working against their client without their knowledge.

Social workers have the ethical responsibility of having the best interests of the clients at hand. In the case of domestic violence, the social worker has to advice their client on the best solution to the problem such as intervention orders (AASW, 2010). Clients should always be left to make their own decision depending on their situations. Social workers should not interfere with the decision made by their clients unless it is extremely important. Lee (2010) noted that individuals are already empowered on their own; all they need is the help to make decisions. When empowered people work together it is possible to achieve bigger and better things. This is the only role that social workers have towards victims of domestic violence. Barry (2011) noted that social workers like everybody else have views on the general world. However, their views are limited by the code of ethics provided. Personal and professional ethics should never be mixed up by social workers. They should always aim at providing the best possible resources to their clients.