Quality Framework

Human Rights: We are committed to fostering a workplace environment that is consistent with human rights – free of discrimination and harassment, where all individuals are treated with respect and dignity, can contribute fully, and have equal opportunity.  The Human Rights Act (Qld) 2019 is important to our organisation because it protects the rights of vulnerable community members. We support a human rights culture within our organisation, and across communities in Queensland.

Diversity & Inclusion:  We recognise, respect, promote and celebrate the value of diversity and adopt and implement inclusive policies and strategies which advance diversity as a positive influence across the organisation.  We:

• Acknowledge and respect the traditional owners of the land – Indigenous Australians.
• Recognise and value the multicultural nature of Australian society and our community.
• Promote and encourage a diverse and inclusive work environment by fostering an environment of mutual learning, respect, dignity, openness to other cultures and an appreciation of difference and other perspectives.
• Attract and retain a board of management whose composition reflects a diversity of backgrounds, knowledge, experience and abilities.
• Seek to ensure that business practices, systems and processes do not prevent people from diverse backgrounds having equality of opportunity within the organisation and as far as is reasonably practicable, provide culturally appropriate support services for Australian Indigenous and cultural and linguistically diverse (CALD) clients.
• Educate staff so that they are capable of responding sensitively, sympathetically and justly in any context.
• Attempt to redress any unfair, discriminatory or illegal practices.
• Promote activities which celebrate the diversity of our community.

Domestic & Family Violence:  We recognise that domestic and family violence is a gendered issue, and that gender inequality is a predominate cause and consequence of domestic and family violence.  Domestic and family violence can have lifelong impacts on children and young people who witness and experience violence and significantly impact the relationships between parent, child and community.  We operate from a framework that:

• Understands the dynamics of gender, power and control
• Understands the impacts on children and young people
• Is culturally safe
• Is risk focussed

• Is informed by trauma frameworks and attachment theories

Child Protection:  We are a child friendly organisation, committed to protecting the safety and wellbeing of children and young people from harm and all forms of abuse including physical abuse, emotional or psychological abuse, neglect, sexual abuse and exploitation.   Our child protection framework is founded on the international human rights treaty on children’s rights – the United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child and the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations.  We have adopted a strengths-based approach to uphold these rights.  We are sensitive to cultural diversity while recognising that the child’s right to be protected from harm is paramount. We acknowledge the vulnerability of children who enter our services and believe that every child/young person has the right to feel safe and to be protected from all forms of harm.

Trauma Informed Practice:  We recognise that trauma is an almost universal experience across our client groups and the need to address it is essential for growth and recovery.  Our approach recognises and acknowledges trauma and its prevalence, alongside awareness and sensitivity to its dynamics, in all aspects of service delivery.  Our framework is strengths-based which embraces a message of hope and optimism that recovery is possible, and is founded on the following principles:

• Safety
• Trustworthiness
• Choice
• Collaboration
• Empowerment
• Respect for diversity