This Participant Information Sheet is about a research project on Children’s Contact Services (CCSs).

Consent means that you understand what the research is about and your part in the research, and you say yes to taking part. Knowing what is involved in the research will help you decide if you want to do it.  

Read this sheet carefully. Please ask questions by emailing AIFS at [email protected].

What is the research about?

This research is about how Children’s Contact Services work for the families who use them.  

Who is involved in the project?

The Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS) and our partners are doing this research. The Australian Government Attorney-General’s Department is funding it. The research will take place between March 2023 and August 2023.  

Why have I have been invited to participate?  

You have been invited to participate because you are using or have recently used a Children’s Contact Service.

About the survey of parents

The purpose of the survey of parents and carers is to understand what it is like using a Children’s Contact Services from the perspective of the people using them.  

How to participate

If you would like to participate, please open the online survey AIFS Evaluation of CCS Activity – Online survey of parents and carers.

As a thank you for participating in this research, we invite you to enter a random draw for one of five $100 grocery vouchers. Details on how to enter are given at the end of the survey.

Your privacy and safety  

We take your privacy and personal security very seriously.

Your participation in this research will be kept confidential within the limits of the law and it is completely voluntary. Your decision whether to participate will make no difference to any current or future contact you might have with the contact service, family law services or the courts. No-one apart from the research team will know you have participated in the survey.

You are free to stop the survey at any time, to not answer any questions, and to delete your answers prior to submitting your responses. Participants in the surveys may withdraw from participation until the submission of their survey responses but it will not be possible for the research team to identify specific survey records for deletion at the request of a participant once they have been submitted as any contact details provided to a linked survey will be removed within 72 hours of submission.

Data collected in this research will be held securely in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), and the information that you provide will not be used in any way that may identify you. See our privacy policy. The measures that will be put in place in line with this policy will include the storage and maintenance of data on the AIFS password-protected Cloud service, with restricted staff access and password protection of all data files.

The survey questions will not collect any answers that identify you and participants are asked not to include any identifiable information in their survey responses. Any identifiable information will be deleted from the survey responses so that it is deidentified and anonymized. If you choose to enter a random draw for a grocery voucher, any contact information collected for this purpose will be stored on an AIFS password-protected Cloud service in a database separate to the survey data, and the link between your survey data and any contact details that you provide for the purposes of entering the random draw will be destroyed within 72 hours of your completion of the survey.

What we find out from you may be used in the final research report but it will not be used in any way that would identify that it came from you. If you choose to provide your contact details to the research team at the end of the survey, you will automatically be given the final report when it is published. You will also get a short summary of the research results.  

What are the potential risks?

It can be upsetting to answer questions about using the Children’s Contact Service. If you become upset, we will do our best to support you. We have listed the contact details for some supports at the end of this sheet. Contact details for support services are also provided at the start and end of the survey.

Data storage

As noted above, information collected as part of this research will be held securely, as set out in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth).  The information you provide will not be used in any way that may identify you. See our privacy policy.

Only approved members of the research team will have access to the information. At the end of the project, the de-identified/anonymised information will be kept and managed at the Australian Institute of Family Studies indefinitely.  

The Australian Government, Attorney-General’s Department will retain the Intellectual Property of the data.  

Contacts

Please contact the research team to arrange an interview if you are interested in helping with this important study on [email protected].  

If you have any have queries about the research, you can also contact the AIFS research team on 1800 720 142 (free call except from a mobile phone).

Complaints

Concerns or complaints relating to the project may be directed to the AIFS Human Research Ethics Committee Secretariat at [email protected] or on (03) 9214 7888. The project’s reference number for this project the AIFS Human Research Ethics Committee is 2022-07.  

About the Australian Institute of Family Studies

The Australian Institute of Family Studies is based in Melbourne. It is an independent statutory agency, established by the Commonwealth Government in 1980 and aims to help in the development of better policies for the future of Australian families.