Health Justice Partnership: An Opportunity to Respond to Childhood Adversity

Sarah Loveday; Suzie Forell; Rebecca Bosward; Lingling Chen; Leanne N. Constable; Wilhelmina Ebbett; Ashraful Kabir; Hueiming Liu; Alexandra Preddy; Natalie White; Harriet Hiscock

doi:10.5334/ijic.8917

Health Justice Partnership: An Opportunity to Respond to Childhood Adversity

International Journal of Integrated Care

Volume 25 (2025): Issue 1

By: Sarah Loveday , Suzie Forell , Rebecca Bosward , Lingling Chen , Leanne N. Constable , Wilhelmina Ebbett, Ashraful Kabir , Hueiming Liu , Alexandra Preddy, Natalie White and Harriet Hiscock

Open Access

|Mar 2025

Abstract

Background: Health justice partnerships (HJP) embed legal support into health care teams to address patient unmet legal needs. Families experiencing adversity are likely to have multiple legal needs yet are unlikely to seek legal assistance. Implementing a HJP within an integrated health and social care hub may improve outcomes for families by addressing adversity related to unmet legal need.

Methods: A mixed-method evaluation of new HJPs was conducted across two sites in Australia. Process data were collected regarding the use of the legal services. Qualitative data explored the experience of legal support.

Results: Forty caregivers were referred across two sites with 38 seen over the first 12 months. Caregivers had an average 2.5 legal issues each; 65% of referrals were for family violence and family law matters, 31% were for civil law matters and 4% were for criminal matters. Qualitative data demonstrated the value of HJP to increase practitioner confidence and understanding of legal support pathways while empowering caregivers to access legal support.

Conclusions: These HJPs improved access to legal support for families experiencing adversity and enabled early intervention. Improved outcomes from HJP depends upon the level of investment from each partner and the level of assistance the HJP can provide.

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Articles in this issue

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5334/ijic.8917 | Journal eISSN: 1568-4156

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Language: English

Submitted on: May 29, 2024

Accepted on: Mar 15, 2025

Published on: Mar 25, 2025

Published by: Ubiquity Press

In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services

Publication frequency: 4 issues per year

Keywords:

health justice partnership,

childhood adversity,

integrated care,

community

© 2025 Sarah Loveday, Suzie Forell, Rebecca Bosward, Lingling Chen, Leanne N. Constable, Wilhelmina Ebbett, Ashraful Kabir, Hueiming Liu, Alexandra Preddy, Natalie White, Harriet Hiscock, published by Ubiquity Press
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Volume 25 (2025): Issue 1