Your rights and responsibilities

Your Rights and Responsibilities

Your Rights

EDVOS is committed to making sure the rights of women and children are respected at all times. You have the right to expect workers at EDVOS to:

Work with you and support you to tell your stories from your perspective
Show you respect and no judgement at all times
Be culturally informed and sensitive
Tell you and your children what your options are
Follow up and provide support in a timely manner
Provide quality support that prioritises your safety and wellbeing

It is your right to

Be told about what services you can access and make decisions about what services you want to receive
Give EDVOS feedback on the support you get
Understand that you can leave support whenever, and you can re-access support when you choose
Have access to an interpreter
Be told about what laws apply to EDVOS and its workers around privacy and duty of care
Be told about the recording, storage and sharing of your information, and how your personal case ﬁles can be accessed
Expect that EDVOS will protect your privacy. No personal or private information will be provided to anyone outside EDVOS without your permission (informed consent), unless we are required to by law or there is a serious risk of physical harm or sexual abuse to a child or yourself

EDVOS Client Responsibility

It is your responsibility to:

Work with your case manager to develop a case plan, work through tasks and try to meet personal goals
Not consume alcohol or drugs on the premises
Respect the rights of everybody at EDVOS. Aggression or any form of discrimination towards staﬀ and other visitors is not acceptable
Take responsibility for your choices and decisions
Be honest with workers so that they can make sure you are safe and supported at all times
Keep appointments or ring and cancel if necessary

Children’s Rights

Workers at EDVOS will make sure that children:

Have their rights recognised and upheld
Are listened to with no judgement
Are treated as individuals and with respect
Are given privacy and conﬁdentiality

For information about EDVOS’s Commitment to Child Safety CLICK HERE

Making a Complaint

You have the right to complain or share your concerns about EDVOS or another service. You can do this without fear of getting in trouble. Your complaint should be dealt with quickly and fairly.

You have the right to complain or express concern about EDVOS or another service if they have discriminated against you on the grounds of your race, colour, descent, national or ethnic origin, or immigration status. You can do this by contacting the Australian Human Rights Commission.

If you have a problem with EDVOS, you can complain or share your concerns to the Homelessness Advocacy Service (HAS). HAS will tell you what your rights are, and can support you to make a complaint. HAS is independent, free, and conﬁdential.

Homelessness Advocacy Service (free call): 1800 066 256

Your feedback is important to us, we use this information to help us improve our services. Please provide EDVOS with feedback via our Feedback Form.

The Victims’ Charter

The Victims’ Charter Act 2006 sets out principles for the way criminal justice and victims’ service agencies must act when dealing with victims of crime.

If determined that a crime has been committed, you have rights under the Victims Charter Act 2006. While EDVOS does not make these determinations, nor have power over the principles, we will work with you and advocate to ensure your rights are met. Please see below for full list of rights and accompanying links to the Victims of Crime website

This means that if you are a victim of crime, you can expect to:

be treated with courtesy, respect and dignity
be treated as a participant in the criminal proceeding
be provided with information in a way that you could understand it and in the way that you prefer
be informed about services to help you
be informed about investigation of the crime
be informed about prosecution of the accused
be informed about the trial process, being a witness, court dates, attendance at court, the court outcome and any appeals
be informed about bail applications and any bail conditions imposed, including those that may affect your safety
be asked your views about prosecution of the accused
be protected from unnecessary contact with accused at court
have an opportunity to write a Victim Impact Statement at sentencing
have your property handled respectfully and returned
have an opportunity to apply for financial assistance
be informed about a convicted offender’s sentence, transfer, release or escape from jail if you are on the Victims Register
have an opportunity to provide written submissions to a parole board
have your personal information kept private unless the law allows for it to be shared.

If you are unhappy with the level of information EDVOS has provided on victims’ rights under the Act, you have the right to make a complaint. If you are dissatisfied with our response about your complaint, you may have the right to have your complaint reviewed by the Victims of Crime Commissioner.