What you should expect
The law that outlines the care system in Victoria is called the Children, Youth and Families Act of 2005. While it doesn’t have a lot to say about leaving care, it does say that young people on custody and guardianship orders are able to access support and assistance up to the age of 21. The section of the legislation that says this (in case you want to look it up on the internet) is section 16. (1) (g).
DHS is currently reviewing the leaving care processes for children and young people in Victoria. All children and young people will work with their workers to develop a plan for when they are in care and when they are transitioning into independent living. Young people will do self assessments and workers will have regular meetings with young people so that young people always know what their worker is doing and workers always know how children and young people are feeling.
The Department of Human Services in consultation with agencies and service providers and is currently developing a plan to support young people that are transitioning into independent living. Every young person will have a care team. A care team is a group of people that are linked to you through a variety of ways that make decisions on your behalf about your future.
When this information in finalised by DHS, we will put it on this webpage.
If you would like more information about this, people you could talk to include:
• Your case manager
• A carer or worker
• Office of the Child Safety Commissioner
Accessing Your Case File
ACCESSING YOUR CASE FILE
Trying to decide whether you want to see your case file is a big decision, and will be different for everyone. The information below is about how to access your case file if that’s what you decide you want to do.
AM I ALLOWED TO ACCESS MY CASE FILE?
Yes. The Freedom of Information Act of 1982 gives you the right to access information held by public agencies. DHS holds health, welfare and housing information about many young people. HOW DO I REQUEST MY INFORMATION?You can request your information by calling DHS on (03) 9096 8449. They will then send you out some information, and will be able to explain the process to you. You will be asked to put your request in writing. In the letter that you write to DHS, you should include your full name, address, date of birth, and a proof of identity. Before you write the letter, it is best to call DHS so that you can make sure you have all the information that you need. In 2007, CREATE did a consultation with young people to find out how DHS could make the process easier. Some of the things that young people said were:
That workers need to have a better understanding of what the Freedom of Information Act says and the processes involved in young people accessing their files.
More information needs to get out to young people so there’s not as many myths about accessing files.
Have more worker training about freedom of information.
Have young people help develop the information (flyers, brochures etc) that get distributed.
Update the ways that the files are given to people to make better use of technology – for example scanning documents and putting them on a CD.
Provide a lot of support to people accessing their files before and after the process.
DHS listened to what young people had to say, and are in the final stages of putting together some young people friendly information, that is designed around the feedback from the CREATE consultation. As soon as an electronic copy is available, we will put it on this page. If you would like DHS to post you a copy of this brochure out, you can call them on (03) 9096 8449.
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