FAQs
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Frequently Asked Questions and Answers
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I spent most of my life in Victorian Children’s Homes , but I left Victoria and now live in Western Australia. Am I entitled to any services from Open Place?
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Yes, you are entitled to all the services that we provide. These services include your access to counselling, access for immediate family members to counselling support for up to 12 months and support to access your records and assistance with travel for family re-unions within Australia. A support worker from Open Place is available to help you prioritise your needs and assist you with any applications.
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I was raised in a NSW orphanage and have lived in Victoria since 1972. Am I entitled to services from Open Place?
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You are entitled to access our “drop in” services and support. However, you cannot access the specific financial support for counselling or for travel and reunions. This type of support is only for Victorian Forgotten Australians. Support staff will provide advocacy and support for you to access your records and will contact our interstate colleagues to help you with your entitlements from other State Governments.
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Why does Open Place need to have written confirmation of my time “in care”?
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The funding for all our programs, including counselling and travel and family reunions requires confirmation of time “in care” because we need to be sure that the services that we offer are being delivered to the people who fought so long to get them, that is, Victorian Forgotten Australians. Staff at Open Place understand that searching for personal records can be stressful for many people. We also understand that for some people there is very little evidence of time spent “in care”. Staff at Open Place are always prepared to be creative and resourceful to obtain confirmation in the simplest, least stressful manner. We always encourage Forgotten Australians to use the support of a counsellor or other support person when accessing records for the first time.
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How can I have a say in how Open Place does its work?
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Open Place is a new and evolving service and we welcome you comments, compliments and complaints. You can send us an email through info@openplace.org.au, send us a message by mail, give us a call on 1800 779 379, drop in to see us for a chat or simply leave a message in our Suggestion Box at the front desk. Open Place has a Service Charter and by downloading this document you can read about how you can provide feedback. Please feel encouraged to talk to us if you have a concern as we want to ensure that we are offering Forgotten Australians the services that they need and deserve in the most appropriate way.
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Why does Open Place stay closed till mid-day on Wednesdays?
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Every other Wednesday morning the staff at Open Place meet together as a group and these meetings usually take up most of the morning. There is always a lot to discuss and this is our time to work together to plan our services and make sure that we are working consistently across the whole service. On the other Wednesday morning when we don’t have a staff meeting we reserve this time to make sure that our individual administrative tasks are followed up. As you can imagine, with a very busy service that is growing in demand on a daily basis we can sometimes feel a bit under the pump. Staff need to have a bit of space to catch up on existing tasks before taking on new ones and using the Wednesday mornings to do this works well for us. All telephone messages are recorded and we try to get back to each caller as soon as we can. If a service user who doesn’t know that we are closed on Wednesday mornings, calls in before mid-day we will of course open up and make sure that he or she is attended to.
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How can Open Place help me with a housing difficulty?
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Open Place is funded to provide specific services for people who identify as Victorian Forgotten Australians. Those services include Counselling for Forgotten Australians and for their family members, Records Searches and Finding Family and access to funds for Travel and Family Reunions. Open Place support workers also provide personal support for any issue that a Forgotten Australian will want to share with us. After 12 months of providing personal support to Forgotten Australians we are very aware that access to safe and affordable housing is an issue for many Forgotten Australians. Open Place support workers will work hard to link Forgotten Australians to specialist Housing services in their local area and we are developing more knowledge every day about where those local services are across Australia and what expert advice and support they can offer. Where a letter of support will assist an application for housing/accommodation, support workers will provide letters of support and encourage other professionals who know the particular service user to write support letters such as medical professionals or disability workers. With the permission of the service user Open Place support workers will advocate and explain to other professionals what the particular needs and issues are for Forgotten Australians who are seeking safe and affordable housing. Open Place support workers have no special authority to access safe and affordable accommodation for individuals but they are there to help Forgotten Australians negotiate a range of service systems, including the Housing service system, which are often complex and unwieldy. We take every opportunity to inform both State and Federal Governments about the housing needs of Forgotten Australians.
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