Open Place is provided by Relationships Australia Victoria and funded by the Victorian Government Department of Families, Fairness and Housing and the Australian Government Department of Social Services.

Department of Social Services funding for the Find & Connect program commenced on 1 July 2012. This funding provides additional staffing to our records, counselling and coordinated support teams.

Many of our service delivery functions are also supported by a number of agencies as listed below who provide local, regional and state-wide services across Victoria.

These agencies help us to respond to local needs, provide us with venues to work from in regional areas, contribute their skills, wisdom and expertise and share a commitment to improving the lives of Forgotten Australians:

• Child and Family Service Ballarat
• Connecting Home
• Glastonbury Family Services
• Kildonan
• Link Up
• MacKillop Family Services
• Oz Child
• St Luke’s Bendigo
• Vanish

All of our work and our governance is underpinned by listening to as many Forgotten Australians as possible to ensure that we are able to meet the needs of as many people as possible.

To this end, we are committed to regularly talking to Forgotten Australians and your families and supporters to hear what you need, how we can help and how we can continue to promote the work of Open Place to make it available to as many Forgotten Australians as possible.

Much of this consultation happens at social support groups.

Open Place has an ongoing relationship with the Care Leavers Australasia Network (CLAN) and the Alliance for Forgotten Australians (AFA). Both these organisations provide support and advice to Open Place.