A home that fits the order
Rostered 24/7 support matched to the order: curfews, exclusion zones, approved contacts and supervised outings, written into the daily plan.
Complex Mental Health · Forensic disability accommodation
Forensic disability accommodation and SIL across Victoria.
Supported homes for NDIS participants whose disability has brought them into contact with the justice system: people on supervision orders, leaving custody or stepping down from Forensicare. Built for stability, with the reporting courts and agencies need.
NDIS support item: Supported Independent Living (registration group 0138 from 1 July 2026, previously 0115 Assistance with Daily Life Tasks in a Group or Shared Living Arrangement)
What forensic disability accommodation is
Forensic disability accommodation is a home with round-the-clock support for an NDIS (National Disability Insurance Scheme) participant whose cognitive disability, psychosocial disability or acquired brain injury is tied up with offending or alleged offending. The people we support may be on a non-custodial supervision order under the Crimes (Mental Impairment and Unfitness to be Tried) Act 1997, on a community correction order or parole, under a supervised treatment order under the Disability Act 2006, or leaving prison, Forensicare or youth justice with nowhere safe to go.
The support is Supported Independent Living (SIL): staff in the home day and night, help with daily living, medication and routines, and a written plan for the behaviours and risks that brought the person to us. What makes it forensic is the rest: conditions built into the roster, staff who know what must be reported, to whom and by when, risk plans written for life in the community rather than a ward, and clarity for everyone, from the participant to the judge, about what the home will and will not do.
Newdawn's founder worked in the forensic sector, complex mental health and foster care for young people with disability before starting the organisation in 2019, and forensic residential accommodation has been a specialty since. We know the difference between a restriction imposed by a court and one imposed for staff convenience, and we keep the second kind out of our homes.
What is included
Six things a forensic placement with us includes
Delivered under the NDIS Practice Standards and Code of Conduct and, where restrictive practices are involved, Victoria's Senior Practitioner framework.
Behaviour support and risk plans
A behaviour support practitioner writes the plan, staff are trained in it, and any restrictive practice is authorised, recorded and reported.
Reporting and liaison
Agreed reporting to Forensicare, Corrections Victoria, DFFH, the NDIA, the court and your lawyer: what is shared, how often and in what form.
Treatment stays connected
Transport and support to attend mental health services, forensic clinicians, drug and alcohol treatment, GP and psychology, with attendance recorded.
Skills for life after the order
Cooking, money, travel, routines and relationships, taught so the person can move to a less restrictive setting when the order allows.
Stability in a crisis
Trained staff, clear escalation steps and 24/7 on-call management, so a bad night is managed at home rather than ending in a breach or admission.
Funding, in plain English
Who pays for what, in plain English
The NDIS pays for disability supports. The justice and health systems pay for supervision, treatment and anything that exists because of the order rather than the disability. That split comes from the Applied Principles and Tables of Support agreed between governments. In practice the NDIS funds the SIL staff, behaviour support and skills work in the home, while Forensicare or Corrections Victoria fund the clinical supervision, drug testing or monitoring the order requires. We help referrers sort each cost before a placement starts.
SIL is paid from the Core budget under Assistance with Daily Life. It is not a standard hourly rate: the NDIA funds a roster of care setting out how many staff are needed at each hour of the week, with the Pricing Schedule setting limits for each shift type. Forensic rosters often include active overnights, two staff at particular times and high-intensity support, and the NDIA needs evidence for each. We prepare it with your specialist support coordinator and the treating team.
A particular kind of building, for example a robust Specialist Disability Accommodation home, is funded separately from SIL. Where SIL is not yet approved, medium-term accommodation can bridge a release date. Specialist Support Coordination, almost always in a forensic participant's plan, is funded from Capacity Building. Our funding guide explains the budgets.
Rates are set by the current NDIS Pricing Schedule 2026-27, which replaced the NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits, and usually change each July. Nothing on this page is legal advice; conditions of an order come from the court or tribunal that made it.
Read more: what each NDIS budget pays for and how plan management affects your choices.
How it works
From referral to a stable address, with no surprises
- 01
A confidential conversation
Call 03 5998 0717 or refer online. A senior team member calls back the same business day and asks about the order, the history, the risks and the timeline.
- 02
Information and consent
With the participant's consent we gather the order, risk assessments, behaviour support plan and health history, and meet the person wherever they are, including in custody.
- 03
A plan everyone has read
Roster, house rules, conditions, reporting lines and escalation steps in one document, agreed with the participant, their lawyer, the supervising agency and coordinator.
- 04
Move in, then settle
Staff who already know the plan, a review in the first fortnight, and case conferences for as long as the agencies need them.
Close to home
Victoria-wide, from a base in the south-east
Our head office is in Cranbourne and our forensic homes and staff are concentrated across the south-east: Cranbourne, Clyde North, Pakenham, Narre Warren, Berwick, Officer, Dandenong and Frankston. We work with the mental health teams at Casey Hospital in Berwick, Dandenong Hospital and Frankston Hospital, with Forensicare clinicians, and with Corrections Victoria offices across the region. We also take referrals from across Victoria, including regional courts and prisons, and travel to meet a participant before deciding whether we are the right fit.
Our Caboolture office in Queensland and West Perth office in Western Australia run the same model under their own state justice frameworks: one plan, consistent staff, honest reporting and a path towards fewer restrictions.
Head office
Cranbourne, Victoria 3977
Offices in Caboolture QLD and West Perth WA
03 5998 0717, 24/7
Support in 17 languages and Auslan
All our locations Questions we get asked
Straight answers.
If yours is not here, call and ask. It is what we are for.
What is a non-custodial supervision order and how does accommodation fit in?
In Victoria a non-custodial supervision order (NCSO) is made under the Crimes (Mental Impairment and Unfitness to be Tried) Act 1997 for a person found not guilty because of mental impairment or unfit to be tried. It lets the person live in the community under court-set conditions, with no fixed end date, and is reviewed over time. A stable, supervised address is usually essential before a court will make or relax one, which is where forensic SIL comes in.
What are the provider's reporting obligations?
They depend on the order and the agencies involved, and we agree them in writing before the person moves in. Typically we report treatment attendance, breaches of conditions, incidents and changes in risk to the supervising agency: Forensicare, Corrections Victoria or DFFH. As a registered NDIS provider we also report reportable incidents and restrictive practices to the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission. The participant is told what is shared.
Do you take people straight from prison or a Forensicare unit?
Yes, where SIL funding is in place or can be arranged and the risks can be managed in a community home. We prefer to meet the person before release, read the risk assessments and build the plan while they are still inside, so staff, house and conditions are ready on the day. Hurried transitions fail more often, and we say so if the timeline is too short.
Is this legal advice, and can you help with a court hearing?
No, we do not give legal advice. What we can do is provide a written description of the proposed accommodation, support and reporting arrangements that a lawyer can put before a court or tribunal, attend a hearing to answer questions about it, and confirm the arrangement afterwards. The conditions themselves always come from the court or tribunal, and we work within them.
How do restrictive practices work in a forensic home?
Any restrictive practice, such as locked doors, restricted access to items or supervised outings, must be in a behaviour support plan written by a registered practitioner and authorised under Victoria's Disability Act 2006 through the Senior Practitioner. Each use is recorded and reported to the NDIS Commission. A court condition is not itself a restrictive practice, but how we support someone to comply with it may be.
What does dual disability or dual diagnosis mean for a placement?
Many people referred to us have more than one thing going on: an intellectual disability with a psychosocial disability, an acquired brain injury with substance use, or autism with a mental illness. We plan for all of them at once, bring the mental health service and disability clinicians together, and avoid the gap where each system says the other is responsible.
Can a participant move on to something less restrictive?
That is the aim. Every plan includes skills work and a path towards fewer supports and conditions as the order and the person's progress allow: a smaller home, individualised living, or a move to our complex mental health SIL. We report progress honestly to the supervising agency and the court, because a documented record of stability is what makes a less restrictive order possible.
Who can make a referral?
Anyone, with the participant's knowledge and consent. We take referrals from Forensicare, Corrections Victoria, DFFH Disability Justice Coordinators, legal aid and private lawyers, hospital social workers, specialist support coordinators and families. Call 03 5998 0717 and ask for the complex mental health intake team, or use the referral form. The first conversation is confidential and commits nobody to anything.
Ready to start
Make a referral Complex cases deserve careful conversations.
Call 03 5998 0717, answered 24 hours a day, and ask for the complex mental health intake team, or send a confidential referral. A senior team member calls back the same business day.
Get in touch
Tell us what you need. We'll take it from there.
Whether you're exploring NDIS for the first time, looking for a support worker, or asking about one of our homes, we'll reply within a few minutes.
- Response within a few minutes
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Prefer to call? 03 5998 0717