Social workers, the law and interpreters

Social workers may work with interpreters in any of the fields outlined in this volume. While social workers are among the professionals who most encourage the use of interpreters to meet client needs, the legal system still has difficulties in some cases in ensuring access to interpreters or being confident in working with them. While the right to an interpreter is recognised in criminal case law and is widely supported in general government policy, the use of interpreters by magistrates, lawyers, tribunal members or others who assess the level of English of witnesses or participants in various settings can be inconsistent. Social workers need to not only make use of interpreters in their own client work, but also need to advocate for the use of interpreters in areas as varied as criminal matters, guardianship, family law, mental health, disability and Native Title. Further difficulties arise from the patchy availability of competent interpreters in some languages and some regions, and this chapter briefly outlines interpreter credentials and training systems. Effective use of interpreters can enhance social work practice in all legal areas, many of which are often likely to be culturally quite impenetrable to non-English speakers.