Our department

The Aboriginal Self-Determination and Outcomes (ASDO) division is a critical pillar of the department. It has leadership, oversight and coordination functions relating to self-determination, Truth, Treaty and Closing the Gap.

ASDO prioritises First Peoples’ expertise, knowledge and experience. The division works in accordance with policy and legislative settings. These include the Victorian Aboriginal Affairs Framework, the National Closing the Gap Agreement, and the Statewide Treaty Act 2025.

The division drives Aboriginal self-determination by embedding First Peoples’ voice and ways of knowing, being and doing in decision-making processes, policy implementation and First Peoples governance and engagement.

The Children, Families and Safeguarding Division is responsible for the policy, programs and legislative frameworks that underpin child and family services, including statutory child protection and care services. The division also maintains the policy and legislative frameworks which safeguard vulnerable children, young people and adults through the department’s regulatory and oversight agencies.

The division’s responsibilities include:

• design and funding of statutory child protection services, family support and parenting services, care services and specialist support services, including for young people leaving care
• design and funding of initiatives supporting Aboriginal children and families, working in partnership with the Aboriginal community and Aboriginal community-controlled organisations (ACCOs) to support self-determined outcomes and services
• support and delivery of programs for people seeking redress and restorative services due to their experience of abuse or neglect in institutional care settings
• leading government reforms to strengthen the child safeguarding framework and support effective regulation and oversight of funded services
• screening and oversight of workforces engaged with Victorian children and Victorians with vulnerabilities
• leading the implementation of the Communities and Families Transformation Program, a program to establish the foundations for a modern fit-for-purpose information and communication technologies. It will replace outdated client information management and reporting systems to enable better outcomes for children and families.

The division also supports the Disability portfolio by:

• maintaining relationships with statutory entities that provide regulatory oversight of Victorian funded social and disability services
• holding policy responsibility for the legislative frameworks that underpin the regulation of disability workers and students in Victoria and oversight of complaints relating to disability services and regulated disability services.

The Community Operations and Practice Leadership (COPL) division is the department’s service delivery arm. It delivers vital services to the Victorian community including child protection, public housing and forensic disability services.

These services are delivered by almost 5,000 staff in offices across Victoria and in Melbourne. Operations span 4 divisions, 17 areas, statewide services and 3 support branches.

COPL is the system steward for the funded community services sector. The division improves outcomes for vulnerable Victorians through practice leadership. It also implements operational policy, funding frameworks and contract management.

COPL responds to place-based, population and community wellbeing issues across the service system, including child and family services, family violence and sexual assault services, homelessness services and community settings. It also responds to local and statewide emergencies and critical incidents.

The Corporate and Delivery Services division is an enabling division that supports the department to serve Victorians. It delivers centralised:

• finance and human resources services
• health, safety and wellbeing services
• management of industrial relations and legal services
• feedback, freedom of information, integrity, risk and audit functions
• ministerial, cabinet and parliamentary services
• information technology services
• procurement, contracting and business service functions
• evaluation, performance analysis and reporting, analytics and advice to enable service delivery and system wide improvements
• external and internal communications, media, community engagement, engagement and digital services.

This division houses the Child Protection Litigation Office, which represents the Secretary in child protection applications. It provides legal advice and support for the most complex and sensitive child protection matters. This includes matters where the protection of a child is directly relevant to a Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal matter, the Federal Circuit Court and Family Court, and in criminal and intervention order proceedings.

The Disability, Fairness and Emergency Management division supports Victorians by standing up for inclusion, human rights and equity, and preventing harm, vilification and discrimination. 

It does this by developing, reforming and implementing inclusive policies, programs and services. These improve social, economic and wellbeing outcomes, as well as boosting community safety, connectedness and wellbeing. This includes:

• embedding lived experience in policies and processes
• partnering with the community sector to deliver initiatives and grants that strengthen communities
• fostering self-advocacy and creating opportunities for people to have a say on initiatives that affect them
• leading policy, strategy and planning across a range of areas, including disability, youth, veterans, carers and volunteers, women and girls, equality, seniors and concessions
• providing specialist disability homes, with more choice and control for people with a disability
• supporting complex needs and forensic disability services to improve community safety
• working to mitigate the impact of emergencies on the health and wellbeing of communities and individuals, especially of Victorians who face greater risk before, during and after emergencies.

The division focuses on people with disability and complex needs, seniors, carers, volunteers, veterans, youth, women and gender equality, and LGBTIQA+ Victorians, and people and communities experiencing vulnerability.

To deliver this work, the division takes a nuanced and intersectional approach. Its initiatives consider the multiple, compounding forms of disadvantage that people experience.

Family Safety Victoria (FSV) is responsible for the Prevention of Family Violence portfolio.

FSV leads policy, programs and initiatives to create a future where:

• all Victorians are safe, thriving and live free from violence
• children grow up in environments built on gender equality and respectful relationships
• families promote health, development and wellbeing.

The division works in partnership across government, specialist family violence, sexual assault and key community service sectors and the wider community to prevent and respond to family and sexual violence. It is responsible for strategic policy design, statewide reform and delivery of programs and services. This includes:

• primary prevention initiatives to change systems, structures, attitudes and behaviours that lead to violence
• improving outcomes for family violence and sexual assault victim survivors – including children and young people – by supporting them to get the help they need to be safe, recover and heal
• keeping people who use family violence visible, engaged, accountable and motivated to change their behaviour
• partnering with First Peoples to support a self-determined approach to preventing and responding to family and sexual violence
• ensuring the family violence and sexual assault system is inclusive, culturally safe and underpinned by the lived experience of victim survivors, including children and young people
• working with states and territories and the Commonwealth on coordinated action to prevent and reduce family, sexual and gender-based violence.

Homes Victoria is responsible for the Homelessness and Housing, Building and Precincts portfolios. It works towards making sure all Victorians have access to safe, stable and affordable housing.

Homes Victoria leads social housing policy, and the delivery of social housing and homelessness programs.

Homes Victoria operates across government on related social issues. It works closely with renters, local communities, industry, the not-for-profit sector and local government. It aims to maximise the social and economic benefits of investing in social and affordable housing.

Homes Victoria’s responsibilities are to:

• steward, partner and fund the social housing and homelessness systems
• manage and maintain the government’s social housing assets, which provide homes for more than 116,000 Victorians
• renew and expand those assets by making sure the Victorian Government’s capital programs are delivered on budget and on time
• undertake meaningful engagement with renters, people with lived experience of homelessness and the community.

Homes Victoria is a public statutory authority established as a body corporate under the Housing Act 1983. It is treated as a public non-financial corporation. Homes Victoria’s Chief Executive Officer and staff report to the Secretary of the department.