Extended Legal Assistance (ELA)
Family - core areas of legal aid work
1. Adoption
Extended Legal Assistance is available to assist clients in the early stages of adoption.
To be eligible for Extended Legal Assistance a client must satisfy the following eligibility tests:
- The Means Test,
- Legal Aid NSW is satisfied the client is
- a vulnerable person, and
- a person with a sufficient interest in the welfare of the child.
Some examples of people with a sufficient interest in the welfare of a child are:
- a birth parent
- a grandparent (if the grandparent has had the care of the child in the past, or has cared for or is caring for the child’s siblings, or if the grandparent has had or is having contact with the child)
- a sibling.