Your rights and safeguards

Our guiding principles

As a client of Relationships Australia South Australia, you can expect excellent service, knowing that we are dedicated to continuous improvement. To achieve this quality we are guided by the following principles:

  1. Respect: You will be spoken to in a clear and respectful manner. You will be listened to and taken seriously. You have a right to consideration and respect regardless of your gender, age, sexual preference, race, religion, political belief, socio-economic status or disability.
  2. Safety: Our offices are safe places. You have the right to feel safe at all times.
  3. Choice: We will provide clear and accurate information about our services so you are able to make an informed choice. You will be encouraged to express your opinion about our services to help us improve our services.
  4. Confidentiality: Your records will be treated with the utmost confidentiality within legal limitations. Confidentiality will only be waived when matters of a serious or criminal nature arise. Please talk to us about any limits to your confidentiality.
  5. Agency expertise: You will receive from us a high standard of services provided by skilled, trained staff. All services are evaluated on a regular basis to ensure efficiency, effectiveness and appropriateness.
  6. Individual requirements: We are committed to providing quality services to all people and understand that sometimes there are barriers that may prevent people from accessing community services. If you have any difficulty in accessing our services, please talk to us about how we can help. For example, we could arrange for a cultural assistant, or an accredited language or hearing interpreter to assist you if necessary.

Child Safety

Relationships Australia South Australia regards the safety and wellbeing of children as paramount in any decisions about their welfare. We are committed to providing safe and nurturing environments for children, and to achieve this we work in partnership with children, their families and other important people in their lives.

We recognise that children can be vulnerable in a number of different ways. In some situations there is a lack of basic care, abandonment, violence or sexual abuse. In other situations children have limited opportunities to develop, with restricted freedom and social interaction. Some children experience bullying or being ostracised or degraded through put-downs. We recognise the potential vulnerability of all children but we are particularly sensitive to protecting the rights of children from minority groups, those who are homeless, and those with a disability.

Our Charter of Children’s Rights

We believe all children have a right to:

  • Protection from abuse, neglect and exploitation
  • Reach their full potential and be free from inequalities
  • Care, protection and support from all the adults involved in their lives.

Australia is a signatory to The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, and Relationships Australia (SA) commits itself to the principles in this Convention.