Victoria Redress Support Services
Redress Support Services (RSS) are specialist, trauma-informed, culturally safe, survivor centred services. Free, confidential, practical and emotional support is available before, during and after people make, or consider making, an application to the National Redress Scheme. RSS can refer survivors to knowmore for free legal advice and financial counselling, as well as other community services as needed.
RSS offer face-to-face, online and telephone support, noting operating hours are local time.
Care Leavers Australasia Network (CLAN)
Child Migrants Trust Inc (CMT)
In Good Faith Foundation (IGFF)
Loddon Campaspe Multicultural Services
Relationships Australia Victoria
Care Leavers Australasia Network Incorporated (CLAN)
CLAN is a specialist service run by Care Leavers, for Care Leavers and their families. All staff are both Care Leaver informed, and trauma informed. For Care Leavers engaging with the National Redress Scheme, CLAN can offer support throughout the entire Scheme process, including assistance completing the redress application form, support, advocacy and counselling as well as assistance with accessing records.
CLAN offers national telephone counselling and support as well as face-to-face support in Melbourne, Geelong and Bankstown.
Primary locations: Melbourne and Geelong, VIC. Bankstown, NSW.
Outreach locations: National via online and telephone support
Phone: 1800 008 774, (02) 9709 4520 or 0425 204 747
Email/online contact: support@clan.org.au
Website: http://www.clan.org.au
Operating hours: 9.00am to 5.00pm Monday to Friday
Child Migrants Trust Inc (CMT)
CMT provides an independent, specialist social work service in all States and Territories to former British and Maltese child migrants seeking help to address issues of historical institutional abuse, and the loss of family and identity arising from chid migration.
Social workers provide counselling and professional support to those disclosing institutional child sexual abuse, and offer a trauma informed service to assist with preparing applications for the National Redress Scheme.
CMT’s United Kingdom office also provides assistance relating to Australian and the United Kingdom redress schemes for those former child migrants originally sent to Australia but now living overseas.
Services are free, confidential, and completely independent from any of the agencies responsible for the deportation of children through Commonwealth Child Migration schemes.
A National service is provided by telephone, office interviews and outreach visits from our services based in Victoria and Western Australia.
Primary locations: Hawthorn, Victoria and Victoria Park, Western Australia
Outreach locations: Victoria and Western Australia. National via online and telephone support.
Phone: 1800 04 05 09 (Toll free within Australia)
Email: melbourne@cmtrust.org
Website: https://www.childmigrantstrust.com
Operating hours: 9.00am to 5.00pm Monday to Friday, with an emergency telephone service over major national holidays.
Connecting Home Ltd
Connecting Home provides culturally safe National Redress support to Stolen Generations and their families through a holistic support service.
The support provided is state wide with workers who will assist and support people throughout the process of applying for the National Redress Scheme as well as supports beyond accessing the Scheme.
Connecting Home workers will also seek to provide and connect participants of the Scheme to cultural healing services as well as mainstream healing services. This service provision will be catered around the healing journey of the individual and their family.
Primary locations: Epping
Outreach locations: Outreach services can be provided to other locations across Victoria.
Phone: (03) 8679 0777
Email/online contact: administration@connectinghome.org.au
Website: https://connectinghome.org.au
Operating hours: 8.30am to 5.00pm Monday to Friday
Drummond Street Services
Drummond Street Services offers free, confidential support to anyone considering applying to the National Redress Scheme. Redress is an alternative to seeking compensation through the courts. It was created in response to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. Our service can assist in the process of making an application as well as providing practical and emotional support.
Drummond Street Services also provides support for survivors and families and loved ones of institutional child sexual abuse.
People can be seen in one of Drummond Street’s service locations including: Carlton, Coburg, Collingwood, Hoppers Crossing, Epping, Wyndham, and Geelong. Sessions can be provided remotely via zoom or audio call.
Primary locations: Carlton, Coburg, Collingwood, Hoppers Crossing, Epping, Wyndham, Geelong.
Outreach locations: Outreach services can be provided to other locations upon request.
Phone: (03) 9663 6733
Email/online contact: redress@ds.org.au
Website: https://ds.org.au/life-support-institutional-abuse
Operating hours: 9.00am to 5.00pm Monday to Friday. After hours sessions available Tuesday and Wednesday evenings.
In Good Faith Foundation (IGFF)
IGFF is a national charity supporting survivors, families and communities impacted by institutional abuses for over 20 years.
IGFF works closely with Government (all jurisdictions), stakeholders and the survivor community to advocate for systemic change while providing trauma-informed support to survivors, secondary survivors and whistle-blowers with a wrap-around care model.
Every recovery journey is unique.
At IGFF we work collaboratively with survivors to widen their goals and options, ensuring that the voice of the Survivor is central to every step.
These options may include, but are not limited to:
- information about legal advice and accessing knowmore
- engaging with the National Redress Scheme
- practical welfare and therapeutic referrals
- professional advocacy and mediation
- providing wrap-around support through the redress journey.
Our services provide a wrap-around model of advocacy and case management, referring survivors to therapeutic care and social welfare supports, fostering connections with the broader community of survivors and advocates Australia-wide.
Our systemic advocacy work reflects survivors’ stories to improve responses, shape procedures and seek accountability.
Primary locations: Docklands
Outreach: National via online and telephone support
Phone: 1300 12 IGFF (1300 12 44 33)
Email/online contact: igff@igff.org.au
Website: https://igff.org.au
Operating hours: 9.00am to 5.00pm Monday to Friday
Loddon Campaspe Multicultural Services
Loddon Campaspe Multicultural Services is a not-for-profit organisation that empowers people from migrant and refugee backgrounds to participate fully in Australia society. We are an ethnic communities council run by and for multicultural services.
Our focus is on supporting people from culturally diverse backgrounds to access the National Redress Scheme. We have expertise in providing culturally safe support to people from migrant and refugee communities.
Our staff speak a number of languages including Karen, Dinka, Dari, Farsi, Hazaraghi, Spanish, Mandarin, Bahasa Malaysia, Hakka, Bahasa Indonesian, French, Italian and Arabic.
Coverage of Loddon Campaspe region of Central Victoria.
Primary locations: Bendigo
Outreach locations: Central Victoria
Phone: (03) 5441 6644
Email/online contact: info@lcms.org.au
Website: http://www.lcms.org.au
Operating hours: 9.00am to 5.00pm Monday to Friday
Open Place
Open Place offers free support for Forgotten Australians who are applying for, or thinking of applying for, redress through the National Redress Scheme.
In Victoria, Forgotten Australians are described as Australians who spent all or part of their childhood in a children’s home or orphanage prior to 1990. Adults who, as children, were placed in Victorian out-of-home care services for more than 6 months prior to 1990 are eligible for Open Place services. This includes Forgotten Australians, Child Migrants and members of the Stolen Generations, even if they now live interstate.
Our service aims to help make the redress process as accessible and stress-free as possible.
If you have any questions about the application process, get stuck with the form, or have other challenges that are making it hard to apply, please send us an online enquiry or phone us and ask to talk to our National Redress Scheme support team.
Primary locations: Richmond
Outreach locations: Outreach visits are available throughout regional Victoria by appointment
Phone: 1800 779 379
Email/online contact: info@openplace.org.au
Website: https://www.relationshipsvictoria.org.au/open-place
Operating hours: 9.00am to 5.00pm Monday to Friday
Relationships Australia Victoria
Relationships Australia Victoria’s Redress Support Service offers flexible, timely and transparent practical and emotional support to people engaging with the National Redress Scheme.
Practical support includes providing information about the Scheme and assistance to complete the Scheme’s application form, case management, and advocacy services to access other services such as legal and financial counselling or other community services.
Emotional support includes providing therapeutic assistance to deal with the emotional impacts of applying for the Scheme, including the traumatic memories that are often triggered as they are revisited during the process. This therapeutic assistance offers empathic listening, and strategies to manage the impacts of trauma.
Relationships Australia Victoria works across Victoria, through phone support, face-to-face and online appointments in centres and outreach locations, to ensure accessibility for people across Australia who are engaging with the Scheme.
Primary locations: Across Victoria
Outreach locations: Across Victoria
Phone: 1800 052 674
Email/online contact: redress@rav.org.au
Website: www.rav.org.au/redress
Operating hours: 9.00am to 5.00pm Monday to Friday
Windermere
Windermere is a Victorian state-wide access point for victim survivors of historical institutional childhood sexual assault. Windermere’s support workers will provide rapid access to information about the National Redress Scheme and assist in identifying individual support needs.
Windermere’s service focus is to provide a trauma informed listening ear, clarify next steps and streamline the process for survivors who may benefit from a support person walking alongside them.
Windermere can provide ongoing support via telehealth and / or outreach to meet with survivors in the East Gippsland, Baw Baw, Latrobe and Wellington regions of Gippsland Victoria, and the Outer Eastern and Southern Metropolitan regions of Greater Melbourne. Windermere will also link survivors to their local Redress Support Service where appropriate, and other services that may be required according to their individual support plan.
Where Windermere is the primary service providing ongoing support, our response will include support to complete the Redress application, advocacy, and case coordination.
Primary locations: Narre Warren, Pakenham, Bairnsdale, Warragul, Morwell, Berwick, Cranbourne
Outreach locations: Southern Metropolitan and East Gippsland regions
Phone: 1300 946 337
Email/online contact: redresssupport@windermere.org.au
Website: http://www.windermere.org.au
Operating hours: 8.30am to 5.30pm Monday to Friday