Family justice reforms spark huge interest

The Government’s Family Court reforms have only been in effect one week but already traffic to the new family justice website has increased fivefold.

Justice Minister Judith Collins says the new website provides fresher, customer-focused information and video support to help New Zealanders settle disputes about the care of their children out of court.

“Every year thousands of cases about how children will be cared for are being decided in court when they don’t need to be,” Ms Collins says.

“It’s better for children and their families to avoid the conflict, delays and expense of going to court, so we’re providing them with more options to help parents work things out themselves.”

Since 27 March the new website (http://www.justice.govt.nz/family-justice) has seen an average of more than 25,000 visitors a day compared to an average of about 5,000 a day to the old website.

“The website is one of a number of ways people can access the information they need to reach their own agreement. There is also in-person support available through the Parenting Through Separation programme and Family Dispute Resolution mediation. If a person is eligible, they can get free legal advice from the Family Legal Advice Service.

The Ministry of Justice is also distributing more than 400,000 brochures and facts sheets on family justice topics to courts, lawyers, Family Dispute Resolution and Parenting Through Separation providers, and a range of community organisations including Citizens Advice Bureau and Community Law Centres.

A new family justice help line 0800 2 AGREE (0800 224 733) has also been set up.