Informed Consent

Respecting the right to privacy and confidentiality of young people experiencing homelessness or at risk of homelessness is paramount to establishing a trusting, supportive relationship in the context of case management and service delivery. Explaining organisational policies and procedures to young people in relation to consent forms, privacy and confidentiality occurs in the early stages of assessment and contributes to best practice standards.

By virtue of the fact that they are young, young people do not always have adequate life experience to be fully informed about decisions they may need to make, particularly if they become homeless or are at risk of homelessness and don’t have support or guidance readily available from people around them. This may be particularly true for those young people under the age of 18.

Informed consent may be required from young people for the purposes of receiving a service or program, participating in research or even speaking to the media.

Here you will find legislative requirements and standards information that will guide best practice when working with young people on the issue of informed consent, privacy and confidentiality.

Victorian Information Privacy Act 2000, Office of the Victorian Privacy Commissioner, Information Privacy Principles
http://www.privacy.vic.gov.au/dir100/priweb.nsf/content/AAF32B312EE4BE7B...

In the final version of the site, you might find the following in this section:

• Examples of consent forms from youth homelessness services
• Examples of confidentiality policies and procedures used by youth homelessness services
• Examples of privacy policies and procedures used by youth homelessness services