Community Services Directorate

What we do

We want Canberra to be a safe and fair community for all. We work to help all Canberrans reach their full potential and lead fulfilling lives.

We provide programs, services and strategic policy advice services for a wide range of people across our community, including:

• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples
• carers
• children, young people, and families
• people experiencing financial hardship
• multicultural communities
• people and families affected by domestic and family violence
• people with disability
• seniors
• veterans
• women

We also provide a range of housing related services, including for people:

• who need help to find a home
• who are homeless or are at risk of homelessness
• living in public housing
• who need other specialist support.

Our structure

Find out about our organisational structure [PDF 204 kB]

Executive

• Director-General: Catherine Rule
• Deputy Director-General: Jo Wood
• Deputy Director-General and Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Coordinator-General: Kirsty Windeyer

Offices and services

Our directorate is made up of the following areas:

• Aboriginal Service Development: Work with community groups to bring programs and services to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the ACT.
• Office for Disability: provides advice to government and community to create an inclusive Canberra so people with disability can fully enjoy their rights as citizens of the ACT.
• Office for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs: coordinates a whole-of-government approach to issues affecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living in the ACT.
• Office for Seniors: coordinates policy to address the barriers older Canberrans face staying mobile and socially connected, accessing services and living free from abuse.
• Office for Women: works to enhance the status of women in the ACT and helps create a community where women   are safe, healthy, equally represented and valued for their contribution to society.
• Office for Multicultural Affairs: coordinates the ACT Government’s work to create an inclusive city that celebrates its multiculturalism and diversity.
• Office for Youth Engagement: works with young people in the ACT to make sure their voices are heard on the issues that impact them.
• Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Office: coordinates the ACT Government’s response to domestic, family and sexual violence including service design and delivery, policy and strategic advice.
• Child and Youth Protection Services: support children, young people and families requiring a care or justice response and coordinates services for the care and protection of children and young people believed to be at risk of harm.
• Housing ACT: helps those most in need to secure and sustain long-term and appropriate housing, alleviate social isolation and build resilience.
• Office for Veterans: provides advice on issue affecting veterans and works to make the ACT a welcoming place for those who have transitioned out of the defence force.
• Office of the Senior Practitioner: works to eliminate the use of restrictive practices in schools, early childhood centres, disability services and out-of-home care. use of restrictive practices in schools, early childhood centres, disability services and out-of-home care.
• Child and Family Centres: provide free advice, support groups and workshops to help families support their child's health, learning and development.
• Child Development Service: provides free child development assessments for children to 6 years of age, autism assessments to 12 years of age and therapeutic services to support the development of children aged 24 to 36 months.
• Regulation, Assurance and Quality: regulates providers of care and protection services for children and young people, accommodation and services for people with disability, and community housing in the ACT. Handles complaints about the Community Services Directorate.
• Commissioning community services: commissioning is a new way of designing, funding and delivering a human services in the ACT. It ensures services and programs meet the needs of our community.

Strategies and action plans

• Strategic plan 2023–2025: sets out our vision, role and priorities and how we will achieve them.
• Community Services Directorate Priorities 2022–2024 [PDF 409.6 kB]: outlines the priorities of the Community Services Directorate
• Commissioning for Social Impact 2022–2024 [PDF 1.8 MB]: a new way of designing, funding, and delivering services that meet the needs of the ACT community.

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Feedback and complaints

If you’re not happy with a Community Services Directorate service, or a community service provider in the ACT, you can complain to us or give us feedback.

Find out how to complain and what to do if you can’t get your complaint resolved.

Freedom of Information request

If you're looking for information, you may be able to:

• ask us for it
• check if it's already available on one of our websites
• make a Freedom of Information (FOI) application.

Find out how to get information or make an FOI application.