You are a Family Support Worker working for an NGO which is funded to support families with children and young people with an intellectual disability. The agency also has a housing service with a block of apartments which they manage. As well as being a caseworker, this is also part of your job.

One of your clients, Meda, is a sole parent with 4 children. Freddy is 16 and has an acquired brain injury resulting in a moderate intellectual disability, Hana is 15, Micky is 12 and Joseph 9.

Meda is separated from her husband, Ed and has received a summons to appear in the Family Court in response to his application to spend time with the children. She asks you if she has to go and what to do. She says that he is not currently paying Child Support.

One day, Joseph says " I don't want to see Dad because he hits mum and takes her money."

When you ask Meda if this is true she is silent and refuses to engage in conversation about it. After the first mention in the Family Court , Hana and Mickey ask you whether they will have a lawyer that they can instruct as to their wishes as regards contact with their father.

You receive a request from Ed's lawyer to write a report supporting his case.

You have arranged for Meda to become a tenant of the housing service managed by the agency. However, she has not paid any rent for three months and there have been complaints from neighbours about noise including yelling and other loud noises that sound like furniture being thrown. Police have been called several times and when they attend, the father, Ed, is always in attendance but Meda has refused to say anything to them. Ed is not on the lease but appears to be living in his car. An officer from the Department of Family and Community Services has contacted you in response to a police report. There are no concerns that the children are being physically abused. They want to know if you have any concerns.

You have a weekly appointment with Meda. She has told you that she is worried about her daughter, Hana, who has a boyfriend who is 17. Soon after this, Hana approaches you and says " I am having sex with my boyfriend but I am scared of getting pregnant. Mum won't let me have contraception as her religion does not allow sex before marriage. Please help me!"

Meda is also worried about Freddy who spends most of his time online and has become obsessed with online gambling. Freddy has a small amount of compensation for the car accident that caused his brain injury. He has access to this via his parents as trustees. His father allows him to spend what he likes, in return for Freddy giving him money. He is still going through the assessments for the NDIS.

Meda has recently been refused a Carer's payment, has been receiving less money than she used to and is now on Newstart. She asks you why this is and whether there is anything she can do as she is struggling financially.

You receive a phone call from local police who say that they have Freddy, Hana, Micky and Joseph in custody. They are accused of attempting to steal food from a local shop. The evidence is on CCTV (closed circuit TV) and shows the two older children outside the shop and the two younger children at the counter. The shop owner comes out from behind the counter and chases them out of the shop. He trips over and seriously injures himself. Police say that if all of them admit the offences, they may consider a caution for the younger children.

You receive a subpoena from the Children's Court for all information relating to the family as the Department of Family and Community services has commenced legal proceedings. Meda comes to you and asks you not to disclose the content of your sessions with her. She asks you what this is about as she has very poor literacy in English.

Your supervisor instructs you to commence eviction proceedings as other neighbours who are clients of the service say that they have been threatened by Meda's husband Ed.

Identify the legal issues that you as a social workers need to respond to and

briefly state any action you would take.