By CAMERON LUCADOU-WELLS
AFTER a protracted five year legal battle, a Sri Lankan Tamil boy living in Dandenong North has finally won the right to call Australia home.
Dilvan, whose name has been changed, wears an easy smile and little sign of the trauma that has dogged him.
Five years ago, the now-popular Dandenong High School school student and keen cricketer was bundled on a plane by his desperate mother in Sri Lanka after his father disappeared.
He flew to Melbourne to live in a refuge with his aunt and cousins. He was then eight.
His mother, who stayed behind in Sri Lanka, had called her son fortnightly but has since gone missing. Both parents are presumed dead.
His aunt recalls Dilvan was “scared and timid of everything”.
“He never slept alone until five or six months ago.”
Until recently, Dilvan has endured the possibility of being transported to an orphange in his homeland after his claims for asylum were rejected three times by authorities.
His application was knocked back by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship, the Refugee Review Tribunal and then the Federal Immigration Minister on the grounds that Dilvan’s testimony was not credible.
Through this time, Dilvan’s aunt, who has two teenage daughters, was contemplating a seemingly inevitable move back to Sri Lanka with him.
“Our lives would have been destroyed,” she said.
It took a last roll of the dice by Victoria Legal Aid, which succussfully obtained Family Court parenting orders for the aunt to care for Dilvan.
This led to the Immigration Minister granting him a permanent visa in May – something that the aunt describes as a “miracle”.
The close-knit family now know they can continue shopping, watching Tamil films at Dandenong cinema and mucking round without threat.
“I just feel absolute happiness and relief. Nothing could be better for me now,” his aunt said.
“It was such a big burden, a big wait. I could hardly care for my own family, I was so worried.
“The lawyers just kep saying ‘we’ll try the next step’.”
Victoria Legal Aid migration law program manager Joel Townsend said the case highlighted the need for a “more humane and flexible” approach to immigration decisions affecting children.
“Dilvan needed a voice in navigating a complex legal system,” Mr Townsend said.
“Dilvan’s case is about more than a claim to asylum; it is also about a child needing to be part of a family again.”
