About the Organisation

The Centre for Multicultural Youth (CMY) is a Victorian organisation focused on supporting young people from refugee and migrant backgrounds. It provides programs, research, and advocacy aimed at fostering inclusion, addressing systemic barriers, and promoting the wellbeing and potential of multicultural youth. Anglicare Victoria is one of the state’s largest providers of child and family services, delivering programs to support children, young people, and families. It focuses on addressing social inequality through initiatives in family support, out-of-home care, and community services.

We Spoke With

Sameera Fieldgrass
Practice Leader - Centre for Multicultural Youth

Kudzi Sibanda
Social Worker and Project Manager - Anglicare Victoria

The following case study is based on the I Need to Know You’re Safe framework and interviews with representatives at Centre for Multicultural Youth and Anglicare Victoria.

The Project

In February 2024, the I Need to Know You’re Safe framework was launched by CMY and Anglicare Victoria. The I Need to Know You’re Safe Framework is a culturally responsive guide designed to address gaps in family violence services for multicultural young people. It highlights the experiences of multicultural young people affected by family violence, amplifying their voices, providing intersectional, youth-driven guidance to embed lived experience into sector practice and identify ways the broader service system can improve support.

Developed under the Working Together grant provided by the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing (DFFH), it was co-designed with young people in collaboration with the CMY and Anglicare Victoria.

The framework integrates a literature review, consultations, and capability-building resources to increase engagement with the Victorian family violence sector. It equips youth workers, family violence practitioners, and organisations with culturally responsive tools and self-reflection practices to improve service delivery for multicultural young people.

The framework is designed to support child and family services to:

  • Help multicultural young people feel safe when engaging with services and disclosing experiences
  • Equip practitioners, organisations, and systems to provide culturally safe and effective support

The Challenge

The Framework was developed in response to identified gaps in service provision for multicultural young people experiencing family violence. A 2022 policy paper Better the Devil You Know Than the System You Don’t and an exploratory forum revealed unique barriers facing multicultural youth, including:

  • Difficulty navigating family violence systems
  • Limited culturally responsive services
  • Young people falling through the cracks of siloed youth and family violence sectors

The policy paper highlighted that these barriers create heightened risks for multicultural young people, as they can feel trapped in violent situations due to limited options and inadequate support. Challenges such as mistrust, fear of harm, systemic racism, and community exclusion further hinder their ability to seek help. Engagement with services is often met with negative outcomes, including community backlash or insufficient follow-up from systems that are not equipped to meet their needs effectively.

The I Need to Know You’re Safe Framework aimed to create a framework that addressed these challenges while centring youth voices. CMY partnered with Anglicare Victoria to combine youth-informed research with sector expertise.

The Journey

Development and Consultation Process

The Framework was informed by extensive consultations conducted across Melbourne and regional Victoria:

  • Youth Participants: 35 young people aged 14 – 27 from first – and second -generation migrant and refugee backgrounds, representing 21 cultural groups
  • Practitioner Input: 26 family violence practitioners from Orange Door hubs, InTouch, GenWest, and Anglicare Victoria, spanning intake, case management, and therapeutic roles
  • Review Process: Iterative revisions were made based on feedback from seven young people in CMY’s Speak Up Metro group, as well as sector leaders from CMY and Anglicare Victoria, and an external peer reviewer, ensuring it reflected diverse expertise and authentic youth input

The Outcomes

The I Need to Know You’re Safe framework establishes safety—physical, emotional, and cultural—as its central principle, addressing systemic barriers such as mistrust, racism, and a lack of culturally responsive care. It promotes collaboration between youth and family violence sectors to ensure that services are inclusive, respectful, and tailored to the needs of multicultural young people.

By improving access to culturally responsive support, the framework aims to empower young people to feel safe, build trust, and navigate systems with confidence. These outcomes are intended to enhance mental health and reduce risks of harm or homelessness.

Young people identified that establishing trust is essential but requires time and intentional effort. Practitioners highlighted the importance of systemic changes, including flexible, youth-focused service models, to effectively meet young people’s needs.

System level outcomes of the framework include:

  • Building Mutual Understanding: Develop a shared language that centres the multicultural young person’s experience, ensuring their voice is heard and validated.
  • Exploring Family and Community: Acknowledge young people’s unique concepts of family and community, understanding both the protective and risk factors these elements can pose.
  • Connecting and Collaborating: Foster shared responsibility among practitioners within and across agencies to address systemic gaps and provide cohesive support.
  • Facilitating Access: Proactively identify and address barriers that multicultural young people face when seeking support, ensuring they can access the help they need.

Success Factors

Lessons Learned

  • Sensitive topics require trust and time. Addressing family violence with young people requires careful trust-building and a gentle approach. The team learned to adapt their methods for different groups, balancing sensitivity with the need for actionable insights, which took longer than initially anticipated.
  • Collaboration between CMY and Anglicare Victoria revealed challenges in aligning different organisational systems, structures, and decision-making approaches. These differences initially created delays and required extra effort to establish clear processes. The teams adapted by emphasising transparency, open communication, and flexibility, which allowed both organisations to effectively combine their strengths—CMY’s expertise in multicultural youth engagement and Anglicare’s family violence knowledge, underscoring the importance of early alignment and ongoing dialogue in collaborative projects.
  • Embedding the framework across the sector was challenging due to limited funding, resources, and follow-up support, making widespread adoption difficult. The one-year timeline was too short to fully implement and sustain the framework. A multi-year approach might have allowed for deeper engagement, regular feedback, and lasting impact.
  • Dedicated champions within organisations are essential for embedding the framework, but they need ongoing resources and guidance to be effective amidst competing priorities.

The Future

Centre for Multicultural Youth is building on this work:

  • With additional funding to further refine and expand the framework, engaging new cohorts of young people and sector practitioners.
  • By focussing on integrating the framework into organisational practices through targeted training, reflective exercises, and ongoing practitioner engagement. It is anticipated they will facilitate Community of Practice sessions and partner with organisations to encourage learning and cross-sector collaboration.
  • Through advocating for multi-year funding to support iterative development, embedding, and widespread sector adoption of the framework.
  • Working toward embedding the framework’s principles as second nature for practitioners, moving beyond a prescriptive guide to culturally responsive practices.

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