New justice palace welfare center offers all kinds of help (Antwerp)
Butterfly Palace
The ‘welfare reception’ will open on Friday in the hall of the courthouse on the Bolivarplaats. You can go there not only for convictions, but also for legal advice on, for example, debts, divorces and problems with the landlord. “We can provide legal advice and refer people if they need other kinds of help,” says Steffy De Puysseleir of the CAW Antwerp.
On average, the Butterfly Palace has more than 800 visitors per day. Dispatchers can direct them to the correct court of law where their case is being heard, but they can help people with other questions and problems.
“We have now repaired that by creating one central Welfare Reception, for which a physical space has also been built in the hall. There is someone from the clerk’s office who can help visitors to view their files or read a judgment from any court. There is a lawyer’s point where a lawyer can give from 9-12h and there is legal advice to give people legal advice (9-16h) from being able to go through for other types of help”, Steffy De Puysseleir, project coordinator of the Welfare Reception. “Before this, there were places where people could get that kind of help, but they were often scattered around the building. Now everything is centrally located in one place. Behind the new counter are also meeting rooms where people can tell their story in peace. The step towards assistance is already a big one, with this we want to make the threshold as low as possible. No one to get lost anymore.”
Train of digitization
The project is a collaboration between CAW Antwerp, the Antwerp Province Bar, the courts and prosecutors in the Butterfly Palace and the city of Antwerp, which is co-financing it. Antwerp Alderman for Social Affairs Tom Meeuws (sp.a): “The need for an institution for welfare questions remains great, especially in a large city where not everyone can join the digitization train. The Butterfly is an important gateway for Antwerp residents who are struggling with problems such as debts, housing or upbringing. By bringing different assistance partners together under one roof, clients no longer have to knock on the door of different services. I hope we can focus even more on this in the future.”
On Friday 22 October, the Welfare Reception will be officially opened by Minister of Justice Van Quickenborne (Open Vld) and Alderman Tom Meeuws (sp.a).