Developing a complaints process for disabled young people

Give disabled young people information about how they can make a complaint as part of a welcome pack when they start to use your service. Make sure the information is available in a variety of accessible formats, such as Easy Read and Auslan.

Outline what kind of concerns disabled young people can raise, including examples. 

You can also include a social script showing what a disabled young person can expect at a meeting about their complaint.

Specify the step-by-step process of a complaint. This should start at the disabled young person raising the complaint, go through the investigation process and outline what they can do next if they are unhappy with the outcome.

Anyone involved in making a complaint should know how to escalate concerns if they are unhappy with the process, investigation or outcome.

Disabled young people should be told about their rights, what to expect from the adults around them, and what to do if there is a problem.

This helps break down some of the barriers to disabled young people speaking up.

Make sure that anyone making a complaint knows there will be no negative impact on them for making a complaint, and what they can do if they feel there is.

Make sure that there is a timeline available, so that the disabled young person knows how long to wait to hear back from you, and how it will be communicated to them if this changes.

If the timeline changes, you should explain why it is changing, and what the new timeline is.

You should make it clear that the person making a complaint is allowed to have someone support them in any step of the process.

Let the person know the outcome of the investigation. Ideally, the disabled young person should be involved in deciding what actions are taken. For example, you can give them options based on the findings of the investigation.

• The disabled young person should be empowered to self-advocate and involved in any decisions made about them and their experiences.
  Investigations should be inclusive, safe and trauma-informed. You can learn more about trauma informed complaints processes, on the Victorian government’s website.
• Where appropriate, the disabled young person should be able to lead discussions around the complaint. If they decide they want a trusted adult (like a parent or carer) to lead, let them, but don’t automatically default to the adult.
• You should also allow for the disabled young person to change their mind.

Make sure that your process is fair, consistent, clear and transparent.

All staff should be aware of and trained in the complaints process. They should be knowledgeable enough to explain it to a disabled young person in a way they can understand, and know who to ask for clarification or further information.

You should have a clear and consistent record-keeping process.