In March 2016, the Royal Commission into Family Violence (RCFV) made 227 recommendations to reform the family violence system in Victoria./p

Part 5A of the Family Violence Protection Act 2008 was developed in response to these recommendations, establishing the Family Violence Information Sharing Scheme (FVIS), which authorises prescribed Information Sharing Entities (ISEs) to share information with one another for family violence risk assessment and risk management purposes.

Alongside these reforms, Part 6A of the Child Wellbeing and Safety Act 2005 established the Child Information Sharing Scheme (CIS), which allows information sharing among ISEs to promote the wellbeing and safety of a child, or a group of children.

From 27 September 2018, Justice Health and its service providers are prescribed as ISEs under one or both of these schemes, when delivering services for Justice Health.

If you are an ISE under either scheme, and you wish to place a request for information from Justice Health or one of its service providers, email the information below to jh.healthinformation@justice.vic.gov.au (External link). This information will help us to respond to your request quickly and comprehensively.

We will endeavour to respond to your request as a priority. The target response time is five business days.

Information to assist us to answer your request

We will need the following:

  • your name, job title and confirmation you are authorised by your employing ISE to make requests under that scheme
  • the scheme under which you are making a request (CIS or FVIS)
  • confirmation that your organisation or program is prescribed as an ISE or RAE under the Family Violence Protection (Information Sharing) Regulations 2018 or as an ISE under the Child Wellbeing and Safety (Information Sharing) Regulations 2018
  • any factors indicating the urgency (high, medium, low) of the request to enable prioritisation.

FVIS scheme only

We will need the following:

  • the grounds for determining the person is a perpetrator or victim survivor to enable us to form a reasonable belief when asking for information for a protection purpose
  • confirmation that you have obtained valid consent from the adult victim survivor or adult third party to request that Justice Health or its contracted service provider release information under the FVIS (or a statement indicating why this consent has not been sought and obtained) OR confirmation that the risk is serious and consent is not required
  • if a child or young person under 18 years is involved, whether their views have been sought or grounds for determining that it was not safe, reasonable or appropriate to do so.

CIS scheme only

How the information will promote a child or children’s wellbeing or safety, and what activity the information will be used for:

  • making a decision, an assessment or a plan relating to a child or group of children
  • initiating or conducting an investigation relating to a child or group of children
  • providing a service relating to a child or group of children
  • managing any risk to a child or group of children.

Confirmation that the requesting ISE has sought the views of the child or parent/relevant family members to request that Justice Health release information under the CIS (or a statement indicating why it was not safe, reasonable or appropriate to do so).
 

An application form is attached below.

Author
Department of Justice and Regulation - Justice Health
Publisher
Department of Justice and Regulation - Justice Health
Date of Publication

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