How Victorians navigate and experience family problems
New PULS research investigates how Victorians experience and resolve their family problems what this means for disadvantage and high unmet legal need.
_WEB.jpg)
Family problems, disadvantage and high unmet legal need
Our new companion briefings, Prevalence and impact of family problems and Resolution and outcomes of family problems, investigate how Victorians experience and resolve their family problems, drawing on data from the Public Understanding of Law Survey (PULS).
We found that:
- While less common than other legal issues, family problems are the most severe
- They disproportionately affect groups with existing socio-economic issues, such as people in financial distress, and those with disability or mental distress
- Despite high levels of service use, family problems remain the greatest source of unmet legal need, with long-lasting impacts and widespread dissatisfaction with outcomes.
These briefings provide an accessible entry point into understanding how Victorians experience, navigate, and resolve family problems. We hope that this research can provide data-based evidence to help inform service design, identify unmet need, support advocacy, and guide further research into access to justice.
You can hear directly from the lead author, Senior Researcher Yolanda Mansfield, in her quick discussion with Dr Bethia Burgess now available on our website, alongside more key insights from the briefings.
Publications
A PULS In brief publication about the prevalence and impact of family problems exploring how Victorians experience and resolve their family problems.
A PULS In brief publication about the resolution and outcomes of family problems exploring how Victorians experience and resolve their family problems.
Subscribe to our Newsletter
The Research Network explores the legal challenges faced by renters amid rising housing insecurity, highlighting the need for urgent reforms to better support vulnerable tenants
Hear from leading access to justice scholar Professor Emily Taylor Poppe, in discussion with VLF’s Hugh McDonald and Lynne Haultain, on where access to justice is headed and needs to be.
In our latest Research Network, First Step Legal’s Lisa Ward joined us to examine the intersection between health and law in an integrated and people-centred service.
How do Victorians experience and resolve family problems?
Our companion PULS In brief publications reveal that family problems, though less common, are Victoria’s most damaging legal issues with the highest unmet need.