Maria Scenario 2

Cultural awareness and Self-reflection:

Recognises and is open to cultural differences
Self-reflection
Continuous learning

Equity and inclusion

Identify barriers
Identifying & addressing disparities
Creating inclusive environments
Advocacy

Adaptability and Flexibility

Adjusting practices: no one size fits all approach
Innovation
Learning from others

Building relationships

Establishing trust
Creating cultural and psychological safety
Communication
Collaboration

Empowerment and Agency

Voice and participation
Supporting leadership
Building capacity

Background

Maria is a 39-year-old woman who has made an initiating application for custody of her two children, Sammy aged eight and Lucas aged four following a recent separation from the children’s father.

Maria is from the Philippines and has lived in Australia for the past nine years. Maria moved to Australia with the children’s father when she was pregnant with Sammy. The children’s father is of Anglo-Australian heritage, and the pair originally met when the children’s father was temporarily working in the Philippines.

Maria was originally on a temporary partner visa but was granted a permanent resident visa five years ago.

At an initial hearing it was ordered that the family engage in a Child Impact Report Assessment.

Receiving appointment via email

Maria received her interview appointment via email.

CIR Parent Interview

During Maria’s parent interview Maria was slow to answer and not always clear in her explanations. As the interview went on, she became increasingly agreeable.

The CCE had to keep questioning Maria to clarify the information, particularly about whether she planned to relocate the children back home as alleged by the father. Maria advised that she is a permanent resident of Australia and plans to raise the children in Australia and has no plans of relocating back to the Philippines. Sometimes her answers were incomplete and not stated confidently. She appeared increasingly agitated which left the CCE feeling suspicious that she was omitting information or not telling the truth.

CIR Children’s Meeting

Upon attending the registry along with the children, Maria was asked at reception to sign the children into the playroom. Maria passed the form to Sammy. As Sammy was filling out the form the CCE came out into the reception and said loudly “no this is for you to fill out” taking the form off Sammy and handing it to Maria. Maria put her arm around Sammy, apologised, moved to the side and started to write on the form.

Maria has submitted a complaint to the Court describing how the interactions - from the email, and throughout the CIR assessment process had made her feel ashamed, confused, and unable to participate fully in the process.

Starting with the email it was in English and whilst she is confident with her spoken English she cannot read or write. She felt anxious that she did not understand the email and was worried that she would do something wrong which would impact how the Court viewed her competency as a primary carer. She felt forced to ask Sammy to help her translate the email even though she knew she was not supposed to expose the children to adult issues. This left Maria feeling embarrassed and ashamed and worried about the impact on Sammy.

In the CIR Parent Interview, she felt rushed by the many questions the CCE asked. This made her feel stressed which meant she started to forget her words. This seemed to make the CCE more impatient and ask more questions and then they started questioning her about her plan to stay in Australia over and over again. This felt like she was being questioned about whether she was really ‘Australian’. Maria felt that the CCE kept referring to the Philippines as her ‘home’ indicating they didn’t think Australia was Maria’s ‘home’. Maria felt upset that they treated her like an outsider and got worried that she might get poor treatment as a foreigner, so she decided to become more agreeable so as not to upset the CCE more or appear disrespectful. She left worried that the CCE didn’t believe her.

When Maria attended the registry with her children, the CCE still seemed to not like her. The CCE raised her voice and spoke abruptly to Maria about Sammy completing the form, embarrassing Maria and Sammy in front of the other people and Maria in front of her children making her feel judged as a bad person.

Maria hoped that by speaking up, future court users from similar backgrounds would receive more culturally responsive and inclusive treatment.

Cultural awareness
and Self-Reflection

Equity and inclusion

Adaptabillity and Flexibility

Building relationships

Empowerment
and Agency

Where could more adaptability and flexibility have been useful in this scenario?
What innovative solutions can you suggest to improve some of the barriers in this scenario?
Where were the opportunities for learning from others in the scenario?
What can leaders put in place to create more opportunities for learning from others (court users, colleagues and external partners)?

How can we engage with complaints like Maria's to ensure continuous improvement?
How do we as leaders support culturally diverse staff voices for continuous improvement?
How can leaders support career progression into leadership for culturally diverse staff?
How can leaders build the capacity of court users to navigate the Courts and have agency?

How could trust be built with court users like Maria?
What could have created a more culturally and psychological safe experience for Maria?
What would have enhanced the communication with Maria?
What opportunities are there for collaboration across the Courts and externally to address the barriers experienced by Maria?

Workshop activities

Principles for Culturally Responsive Leadership

Mobile users:

Scenario PART 1

Reflection Questions

Scenario PART 2

Group Work