Established in Victoria by VLA in May 2017 with funding from the Commonwealth Government, the Family Advocacy and Support Service (FASS) is an integrated service where duty lawyers and family violence support workers provide holistic support to families affected by family violence in the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (FCFCOA).

In Victoria, FASS currently operates in the Melbourne and Dandenong FCFCOA registries.

The current FASS service delivery model in Victoria provides two FASS duty lawyers and two family violence support workers at each registry, as well as an Information Referral Officer (IRO) staffed by VLA’s Legal Help service to undertake triage, intake and assessment for each client to determine eligibility for FASS services and refer them to legal and non-legal support services. From 1 July 2022 mental health support will be added to the model.

In 2021, funding was announced by the Commonwealth Government to expand FASS services from 1 July 2022 to 30 June 2025 to FCFCOA circuit locations at Warrnambool, Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo, Shepparton, Mildura and Morwell.

The funding for the new alternate duty lawyer service is provided through the NLAP agreement under Bilateral Schedule 2 and will be administered by VLA to the successful service provider.

VLA is seeking expressions of interest (EOI) from community legal centres (CLCs) to deliver the alternate FASS duty lawyer service for a duration of three years (1 July 2022 to 30 June 2025) in FCFCOA circuit locations during circuit sittings.