Court trauma
eased by help
of volunteers

VOL UNTEER ORGANIZATIONS

in. Narth ‘and West

Vancouver are attempting to provide the bright [ght of
knowledge for.people entering the emotional and financial!
gloom of family and youth court.

Most people finding themselves
suddenly mired in cithe: are hob-

bled by the emotional: devastatidri’:
that. preceeds..the matter reaching *

court and an overall ignoranée of
court procedures.

In addition, a lot of family court
appellants,” most’ of whom. are
women trying to enforce family

maintenance orders, ate not repre-

sented by legal counsel. :

~The North Vancouver Family
Court (NVFCC) and the West
Vancouver Family Court — Youth
. Justice (WVFCYIC) committees
work as local volunteer watchdog ..
organizations to monitor the~

machinations of North Shore fam-

ily.and youth court. proceedings
‘and also provide en information
resource for those requiring
_ assistance with their cases.
_ Susan Bauman, chairman of the
14-member NVFCC, says. the
organization uses a court watch
force of between seven and 10 vol-
unteers to monitor both family and
youth court in. the North... Van-
couver provincial courthouse:

_The volunteers come from a
wide range of backgrounds: law
students, unemployed or retired
people, students or those just in-
terested in viewing local court pro-
cedures... |

Bauman. said watchers are ini-

tially. given: several’ hours of in-

Hy TIMOTHY RENSHAW
. News Reporier

struction and then are teamed with
more experienced watchers in
court. It takes, she said, approx-
imately one month for mest people
to become comfortable with court
procedures and the intricacies of
what they are observing. »

But more than just a local
observation service for the com-
munity and the North . Shore's
three municipalities, the NVFCC
assesses local resources, legal and
otherwise, available for family and
“youth. court defendants and plain-
tiffs, and acts as a conduit for rais-
ing public awareness of child
abuse, ‘delinquency and family
breakdown problems, all of which
eventually must be dealt with in
local courts.

in 1987,
observed over

NVFCC_ volunteers
600 family and

‘youth court cases in North Van-

couver.
Among the primary family court
concerns identified by’ the
organization from its observer in-
formation are: the majority of
women in family court have no
legal representation; there is inad-
equate financial information, such
as carnings and exnenses, ex-
See Court :

Page 38

_ Computer ‘Skills for ~
the Workplace oa

J

37 ~ Wetinesday, Muy 18, 1984 - North Shore News

fLearn : sex os

all over
again §

. NEWS phota Terry Poters

THE NORTH Vancouver Family Court (NVFCC) and the West Vancouver Family Court — Youth Justice
(WVFCYJC) committees operate as local volunteer watchdog organizations to monitor North Shore family and
youth court proceedings, They are also an information resource for those requiring assistance with cases.~
NVFC committee member Peart McKenzie, left, and NVFCC chairman Susan Bauman are two of the people

who make the North Vancouver organization work.

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