Organisational Statement –
Commitment to culturally safe services

YCSS and Youth Konnections (known as The Organisation) are committed to providing and maintaining the cultural safety of all children, young people, families, employees and stakeholders within our service.

Cultural safety is where everyone feels their cultural identity is respected, their needs are met, and they are free from discrimination.

Cultural safety requires individuals and organisations to reflect on their biases, address power imbalances and engage in continuous learning to create an environment of shared respect, meaning and dignity for people of diverse backgrounds particularly for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD), LGBTIQA+, Neurodiverse participants and participants with a disability.

The organisation is committed to safeguarding the safety of participants from harm including cultural harm. Organisational documentation, policies, procedures and work instructions are developed to ensure:

• Processes are set to identify and address risk to participants.
• Organisational documentation is not silent on the needs or considerations of support to participants.
• Processes are in place to manage concerns and respond to complaints.
• The organisation reviews and promotes paradigms and world views of participants.
• The organisation actively works towards embedding the support needs of participants into our services making these supports normative rather than exclusive.
• The organisation has zero tolerance towards negative behaviour, commentary or actions towards employees or participants.
• Employees are required to complete organisational training and are encouraged to participate in further training and development to complement their personal knowledge.

Ann Marie Matthews
Chief Executive Officer

Organisational Statement –
Commitment to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Safety

YCSS and Youth Konnections (known as The Organisation) is committed to providing and maintain the cultural safety of all children, young people, families, employees and stakeholders within our service.

We recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People as the First People of this country and acknowledge the continued spiritual, physical, social, and cultural connections they have with land and sea. We recognise colonisation has left and continues to leave a legacy of oppression, family separation and loss of culture, languages, and country. We are committed to ensuring:

• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children’s rights to live within culture. We strive to reflect this in our work and our relationships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
• That we provide Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people control over decisions that affect themselves. We believe Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples must be enabled and provided with opportunities to make decisions about their own futures.
• That our services and practices take responsibility to support self-determination for Aboriginal peoples, this includes sharing power, requesting, and receiving feedback, supporting decision making. This is especially relevant for the design, delivery, and evaluation of services for Aboriginal peoples.
• Acknowledge that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures are a source of strength, resilience, and identity for all Australians and ensure we show a shared respect and shared knowledge embracing the experience of learning together with dignity and truly listening.
• Support our employees to take responsibility for ensuring their own cultural values do not negatively impact on Aboriginal peoples, including a responsibility to address their potential for unconscious bias, racism, and discrimination.
• We believe that to respond to the issue of over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in care protection systems that our efforts should be based on the evidence of what works utilising strategic and institutional reform to remove barriers to optimal health, wellbeing, and safety outcomes for Aboriginal people.
• We believe that the only way to close this gap is by supporting the self-determination of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and adequately resourcing their needs. This must be backed by a supportive organisation and based on an acknowledgment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and heritage.

Ann Marie Matthews
Chief Executive Officer