DSS issues Family Safety Pack in 46 languages to support families

The Federal Department of Social Services (DSS) has developed a Family Safety Pack for men and women coming to Australia, which includes information on Australia’s laws regarding domestic and family violence, sexual assault and forced marriage, and a woman’s right to be safe.

Containing eight fact sheets on a variety of topics, the pack will be of interest to those working in the early childhood education and care (ECEC) sector where their role intersects with family support, or where they are dealing with newly arrived families. 

The resources will also be of use to the sector in situations where families have low levels of literacy, with the pack including a low literacy storyboard.

The resources are a key initiative of the Second Action Plan of the National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children 2010-2022, through which the Australian Government has committed to understanding and addressing violence against women from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds and improving support available to CALD women and their children. 

To complement the Family Safety Pack, the Australian Government has developed two fact sheets to raise awareness of the role and responsibilities of interpreters in domestic violence situations.

The purpose of the factsheets is to raise awareness of the importance of using professionally trained interpreters, how to effectively engage with interpreters, and awareness of interpreters’ responsibilities under the AUSIT Code of Ethics. 

They also include information on steps to take if there are concerns that an interpreter has acted inappropriately. The factsheet aimed at interpreters also includes information on training and professional development opportunities and available support services.

The Family Safety Pack is translated into the 46 languages below:

• የኢትዮጵያ/አማርኛ (Amharic)
• عربي (Arabic)
• ܐܵܬܘܿܪܵܝܵܐ (Assyrian)
• Ichibemba (Bemba)
• বাংলা (Bengali)
• (Burmese)
• 简体中文 (Chinese – Simplified)
• 繁體中文 (Chinese – Traditional)
• Hrvatski (Croatian)
• دری (Dari)
• Thuɔŋjäŋ (Dinka)
• فارسی (Farsi)
• Français (French)
• Ελληνικά (Greek)
• ગુજરાતી (Gujarati)
• ازرگی (Hazaragi)
• हिन्दी (Hindi)
• Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
• Italiano (Italian)
• (Karen)
• (Khmer)
• 한국어 (Korean)
• کوردی (Kurdish)
• Lingala (Lingala)
• Bahasa Melayu (Malay)
• മലയാളം (Malayalam)
• नेपाली (Nepali)
• Afaan Oromo (Oromo)
• پښتو (Pashto)
• (Punjabi)
• Ruáingga (Rohingya)
• Русский (Russian)
• Salon Krio (Sierra Leone Krio)
• Soomaali (Somali)
• Español (Spanish)
• اللغة العربية المتحدثة في السودان (Sudanese Arabic)
• Kiswahili (Swahili)
• Tagalog (Tagalog)
• (Tamil)
• తెలుగు (Telugu)
• ภาษาไทย (Thai)
• (Tibetan)
• ትግርኛ (Tigrinya)
• Türkçe (Turkish)
• اردو (Urdu)
• Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)

More information on the National Plan can be found on the National Plan website.