Our Service Charter
This service charter outlines the Berry Street service commitment to you, our clients. We are committed to providing
high quality services without discrimination. We seek to work together with you to achieve good outcomes. From
you we can learn what we do well and where we need to improve. We welcome suggestions and feedback and
take any complaints seriously.
Our History — where we’ve come from
Established in 1877 as the Victorian Infant Asylum, Berry Street’s core activity has always been protecting children
in need, and strengthening families so they can provide better care for their children. In the early days, our
greatest challenges were high infant mortality and poverty. Our primary aims were to support unwed, isolated or
rejected mothers and their babies and finding new homes for babies and children who were abandoned.
We acknowledge that we were part of a broader child welfare system that sought to break up Aboriginal families
and communities by removing their children and a system of institutional care in which many children suffered
further abuse and deprivation. Our Board made formal apologies in 2006 for these past practices and places the
interests of children above all other considerations in its governance of the organisation.
Our Present — where we are today
Today, Berry Street is the largest independent child and family welfare organisation in Victoria. We provide an
extensive range of services to children, young people, women and families across metropolitan, regional and
rural Victoria. In the context of increased pressures on childhood our greatest challenges today are:
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to help children and young people recover from the devastating impact of abuse, neglect and violence
to help women keep themselves and their children safe from family violence
to help struggling mothers and fathers to be the parents they want to be
to contribute to, and advocate for, a fairer and more inclusive community.
Our Values - what drives us
Berry Street’s five core Values are Courage, Integrity, Respect, Accountability
and Working Together.These Values guide everything we do:
• Courage: To never give up, maintain hope and advocate for a ‘fair go’
• Integrity: To be true to our word
• Respect: To acknowledge each person’s culture, traditions, identity, rights,
needs and aspirations
• Accountability: To constantly look at how we can improve, using knowledge
and experience of what works, and ensure that all our resources and assets
are used in the best possible way
• Working Together: To work with our clients, each other and our colleagues
to share knowledge, ideas, resources and skills.
Privacy
Your participation in a Berry Street program is voluntary. The more relevant information we know about your
circumstances, the better we will be able to match our service and support to your needs. However, it is always
your right to decide what you want to tell us.
The information you provide may also be used to assist with referring you to other services. Non-identifying
information may also be used for reporting to funding bodies on the number of clients we are working with, and
for quality assurance, research and evaluation purposes.
Accessing Information
The Privacy and Data Protection Act (2014) enables you to see any information that Berry Street holds about you.
You can request your Berry Street records by contacting the staff member you are working with. If you are no
longer working with the service you can contact the Senior Manager of the program that provided support to
you. Alternatively, you can contact the Berry Street Privacy Officer by telephoning 03 9429 9266.
Information Sharing Provisions *
Under the Child Information Sharing Scheme (CISS) and the Family Violence Information Sharing Scheme
(FVISS), approved organisations (such as Berry Street) are able to share information without consent with other
approved organisations, if the information promotes child wellbeing and safety, or relates to the assessment and
management of family violence risk for a child. Consent is required from adult victim survivors of family violence,
unless the information relates to assessing or managing a risk to a child victim survivor.