Information and resources for young people

What does the Ombudsman do?

We make sure that government agencies, as well as some non-government agencies and services are doing the right thing by the NSW community, including young people.

An important part of our role is to handle complaints from young people when they feel that they have been treated unfairly by an agency funded by government like a school, the police, an accommodation service or similar agencies that provide services to young people. If a young person is unhappy about the way they have been treated, they can complain to us.

Some examples of agencies that we take complaints about include:

• Department of Education and Communities (including public schools and TAFE colleges)
• NSW Police Force
• Housing NSW
• Juvenile Justice and Corrective Services NSW
• Community Services
• Roads and Maritime Services, Sydney Buses, RailCorp
• state universities
• disability services
• non-government schools and child care centres with respect to employment-related child protection matters
• agencies that provide substitute residential care
• out-of-home care services
• refuges and boarding houses
• local councils