The Australian Volunteers Program supports volunteers to have family accompany them on assignment – these are known as Approved Accompanying Dependants (AADs). It is a big decision – there are considerations for whether having your family or partner join you on assignment is feasible. Living overseas as a family can provide incredible experiences. It can also be challenging, and the decision requires careful thought and planning.

The program will conduct a rigorous risk assessment when determining whether families or partners can be supported to accompany a volunteer on an in-country assignment. Approval to deploy families and partners will be provided at the program's discretion using a comprehensive risk-based approach.

Our risk-based approach includes a careful assessment of each country noting its specific safety and security context. This assessment involves close engagement with the in-country management staff. It must be noted that families and partners will only be deployed to locations where it is safe to do so and based on a risk assessment undertaken at the time.

Read over the considerations and requirements for AADs joining you on assignment in section 1.5 of the Australian Volunteers Guidebook.