Information Sharing Hub

Call 000 if you’re in danger and require immediate assistance.

Family Violence Information Sharing Scheme Ministerial Guidelines

The Family Violence Protection Act (FVPA) Part 5A, allows for Information Sharing Entities (ISE’s) to request, collect, use and disclose information for a family violence protection purpose (managing risk), once risk has been established (FVISS Ministerial Guidelines, 41).

Sharing of information is required, provided that:

Information is not excluded
Applicable consent requirements have been met.

ISE’s can share, request and collect information for: Family violence protection purposes. As defined in Section 144A of the FVPA to mean the purpose of managing a risk of a person committing family violence (including the ongoing assessment of the risk of the person committing family violence) or a person being subjected to family violence (including the ongoing assessment of the risk of the person being subjected to family violence)(FVISS Ministerial Guidelines, 14).

RAE’s can share, request and collect information for: Family Violence Protection and Family Violence Assessment Purposes. As defined in Section 144A of the FVPA to mean the purpose of establishing or assessing the risk of a person committing family violence or a person being subjected to family violence. (FVISS Ministerial Guideline, 14).

Before Utilising this Information Sharing Hub

This form is designed to inform practitioners, what information is available within different agencies.

Not all information will be available or applicable for each client. Practitioners are still expected to understand their own responsibilities under the FVISS scheme, and have completed all necessary training and to follow your home agency policies.

Professional judgement is still necessary and information should be shared under the four guiding principles of the scheme:

Safety First: ISEs should give precedence to ensuring a victim survivor is safe from family violence when considering a perpetrator’s privacy
Proportionality: ISEs should only share relevant information to the extent that is necessary to assess and manage family violence risk
Collaboration: ISEs should coordinate services for the purpose of risk assessment and risk management in a manner that respects the functions and expertise of each prescribed entity
Agency: ISEs should promote the agency of victim survivors by seeking their views and keeping them informed about how their information will be used where it is appropriate, safe and reasonable to do so.

(FVISS Ministerial Guidelines, 10).

You should ensure:

You are authorised to share or request information
The person/agency you are requesting information from, is who they say they are, from an agency prescribed under the Act
Applicable consent requirements have been met.

If you want to check if your organisation is on the prescribed list of Information Sharing Entities, check the ISE List.

Consent and Record Keeping

Family Safety Victoria has created the following documents to assist with consent:

Family Safety Victoria has created the following document to assist with record keeping:

Tips for information sharing record keeping

Information Sharing Request- Sample Email

To assist you to complete information sharing requests, we have created a sample email, which you can copy and paste into your email, or saved to your email as a template to use again and again. This will allow you to ensure you are including all the relevant information, to make an information sharing request. The form is interactive, you will be able to tick the relevant boxes and insert information, even if you copy and paste it to an email.

Template Email- Information Sharing Request

You are encouraged as part of Collaborative Risk Management to talk to your colleagues across the sector. Information can be requested and shared verbally as long as the requirements of the Scheme have been met. (FVISS Guidelines, p20). This will assist with relationship building and safety of clients.

Information Hub

We have compiled the following:

– List of services
– What information they may hold
– Their email information to make an information sharing request
– Whether they are an RAE or ISE.

This is a guide only, not all information will be relevant for the purposes of managing risk in your specific circumstances. The purpose is to assist you to make better information sharing requests.

Key:

V/S- Victim Survivor
APUV- Adult person using violence

Available Information:

Risk Assessment V/S
Self-Assessed level of risk V/S
Safety Plan V/S
Risk Assessment APUV
Safety Plan APUV
Service User History
CIP Summary Report

The Orange Door is an RAE

Contact:

Inner Gippsland: iga@orangedoor.vic.gov.au

Outer Gippsland: oga.infosharing@orangedoor.vic.gov.au

Available Information:

Current and historical use of family violence APUV
Intervention Orders APUV
Supporting narratives APUV
Family violence related charges and outcomes APUV

The magistrate court is an ISE

Contact:

informationsharing@courts.vic.gov.au

Available Information:

Medical records from Victorian Prisons APUV
General Primary Health APUV
Forensic specialist mental health care APUV
Attendance at alcohol and other drug programs APUV

Justice Health is an ISE

Contact:

jh.legal@justice.vic.gov.au

Available Information:

Criminal history APUV
History of incarceration, including continued use of family violence in prison APUV
Current CCO conditions. Contact details of current CV case manager APUV
Previous CCO and level of compliance APUV
Judges summary APUV
COATS Drug and alcohol assessment APUV

Corrections Victoria is an ISE

Contact:

cv.fviss@justice.vic.gov.au

Available Information:

Observed and recorded family violence
DFFH Protection Orders
Relevant known trauma history of escalating family violence

Child Protection is an RAE

Contact:

Info.exchange@dhhs.vic.gov.au

Available Information:

L17 Reports
Supporting narratives
Offending history and related charges

Victoria Police is an RAE

Contact:

https://vicpol.force.com/OnlineRequest/s/

Available Information:

Release date APUV
Mental health status APUV
Medication compliance APUV
Current delusions/fixations on the victim and perception on the status of the relationship APUV
Observed breaches APUV
Planning regarding release APUV

Forensicare is an ISE

Contact:

health.information@forensicare.vic.gov.au

Available Information:

Intake assessment and program eligibility APUV
Level of program engagement APUV
Observed/noted escalation of risk APUV
Continued use of family violence APUV
Breaches of family violence intervention orders APUV
Breaches of Children’s Court Orders
Risk Assessment APUV
Safety Plan APUV
Service User History
CIP Summary Report

Family Contact Programs may hold:

Risk Assessment V/S
Self-Assessed level of risk V/S
Safety Plan V/S

Men’s Programs are RAE’s

Contact:

Inner Gippsland:

Salvation Army: mbcpadmin@salvationarmy.org.au

Latrobe Community Health Service: privacy@lchs.com.au

VACCA: informationsharing@vacca.org

Anglicare: infosharingmfv@anglicarevic.org.au

Outer Gippsland:

Gippsland Lakes Complete Health: fycsreferral@glch.org.au

Yoowinna Wurnalung Aboriginal Healing Service: healingservice@ywahs.org.au

Anglicare: infosharingmfv@anglicarevic.org.au

Available Information:

Risk Assessment V/S
Self-Assessed level of risk V/S
Safety Plan V/S
Service user history V/S
Case Summary V/S
CIP Summary Reports APUV

Victim/Survivor Case Management are RAE’s

Contact:

Inner Gippsland:

Salvation Army: info.leongatha@salvationarmy.org.au

Quantum Support Services:

VACCA: informationsharing@vacca.org

Outer Gippsland:

Quantum Support Services:

Gippsland Lakes Complete Health: fycsreferral@glch.org.au

GEGAC: keepingplace@gegac.org.au

Orbost Regional Health:

Available Information:

Family violence risk relevant information gathered at intake V/S
Self assessment of risk V/S
Treatment recommendations and funded treatment outcomes APUV
Interactions between substance use and offending behavior APUV
Observed family violence APUV

Drug and alcohol programs are ISE’s.

Contact:

Inner Gippsland:

Latrobe Community Health: privacy@lchs.com.au

Outer Gippsland:

Gippsland Lakes Complete Health: fycsreferral@glch.org.au

Available information:

Strengths, including steps they have taken to keep themself and children safe V/S
Self assessment of risk V/S
Description of the APUV pattern of behaviour V/S
What the Victim/Survivor/s identifies as behaviour that causes them the most risk V/S
Release date APUV
Mental health status APUV
Medication compliance APUV
Current delusions fixation on the victim APUV
Ongoing use of FV APUV
Perception on the status of the relationship APUV
Mis-identification