You do not need a lawyer to request your records. But sometimes having a lawyer can be useful, especially if you are thinking of making a claim.
You could ask a lawyer to help make a complaint about or challenge:
Before you decide to take legal action, try making a complaint to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner first. Their service is free.
If you want to make a claim for redress for the abuse you have suffered, you can choose to take legal action against the state (government) or faith-based institution that was responsible.
Find out about going to court to claim damages.
Your right to do this is not affected if you have made an out-of-court claim of historical abuse in state care.
You do not have to, but you can choose to have your lawyer make the claim on your behalf. If you do, the government agency will communicate with your lawyer and your lawyer should update you on the progress of your claim.
You can also make the claim yourself if you are eligible, but it can be useful to have a lawyer to advise you.
If you do not have a lawyer, it might be a good idea to have other support. Find out about support that is available.
You can also talk to your lawyer about your options if you make a claim of historic abuse in State care, but do not accept the redress the government agency offers you.
Learn about making a claim of historic abuse.
Find a community law centreopen_in_new for free legal advice. A lawyer at the community law centre can give you advice but will not be able to represent you.
A community law centre lawyer can also help you find out if you are eligible for legal aid.
Aotearoa Disability Lawopen_in_new is a community law centre that helps Deaf and disabled people.
Legal aid is a loan that helps to pay the costs of a lawyer. If you cannot afford a lawyer, you might be eligible for legal aid. A legal aid lawyer can help you to apply for legal aid.
The Ministry of Justice has a list of legal aid lawyers who offer specialist advice to survivors of abuse in careopen_in_new.
Find a lawyer by:
If you can, try to find a lawyer with experience in record requests and/or abuse in care claims.
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This Easy Read is about what to do when you:
and
Here records means the information an organisation has kept / made about a person.
Here in the care or guardianship of others means when an organisation is put in charge of a person and decides things like:
A guardian is an adult put in charge of the care of a person.
A guardian should:
Redress means to make something right when something wrong has been done.
Redress for a person who has experienced abuse in care can include things like getting money:
Click here to learn more about Kōnae - My Records Guide.
You can get free legal advice from a Community Law centre.
Legal advice is when a person like a lawyer tells you information you need to know about the law.
A law is a rule made by the Government that everybody must follow.
A lawyer at a Community Law centre:
Here represent is when:
Click here to find a Community Law centre near you.
This website is not in Easy Read.
Legal aid can support you to pay for a lawyer if you need legal services.
Legal aid is:
Here a loan is when you:
A Community Law centre lawyer can support you to find out if you can get legal aid.
Click here to find a legal aid lawyer.
Click here to find out more about legal aid.
These 2 websites are not in Easy Read.
You can ask a lawyer to support you to make a complaint if you do not get the records you have asked for.
A lawyer can support you when:
Redact means hiding / taking out some information in a document.
This could be because there is information about other people in your records.
This is often done with a thick black line.
You have to pay to get legal services from a lawyer.
If an organisation has not given you the information you asked for you can complain to the Privacy Commissioner before you contact a lawyer.
The Privacy Commissioner deals with complaints about your rights to get your personal information.
The Privacy Commissioner knows why an organisation may not be able to give you the information you asked for.
These reasons are set out in the Privacy Act.
The Privacy Act is a law that tells organisations how information must be:
Click here to learn more about making a complaint to the Privacy Commissioner.
Here a claim means you have asked a government agency for redress.
You can make a legal claim for redress about the abuse you experienced when you were in care at a:
Faith-based institutions are run by religious groups like churches.
You can agree to a lawyer doing this for you.
Click here to find out more about making a claim for redress.
You do not have to use a lawyer to make a claim for redress.
If you decide to use a lawyer:
You should get support if you decide to make your claim by yourself.
Click here to find out about support you can get.
You can talk to a lawyer if the Government has:
Click here to find out more about making a claim about abuse in government care.
You can ask someone you trust to tell you if they know a good lawyer.
There are lawyers listed on websites like:
Here are some ways you can find a lawyer.
Click here to go to the New Zealand Law Society website
Click here to go to the Law Association website.
Click here to find out how to contact your local branch of the New Zealand Law Society.
Try to find a lawyer who has experience in:
Working with a lawyer to get your records about when you were in care can make you feel lots of things.
It can be good to have someone to talk to about it.
You can talk to your:
Kōnae has information on where to get support you if you want to talk about how it feels to get your records.
Click here to find out what support you can get.
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Click here to download the information on this webpage as a PDF.
More Easy Read information is available.
Click here to visit our Easy Read library webpage.
Click here to learn about who made this Easy Read.