Responding to Children and Young People’s Experience of Family Violence

Responding to Children and Young People’s Experience of Family Violence

Monday 31 January 2022

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As the specialist family violence sector continues to develop and evolve, children and young people impacted by family violence still need urgent and dedicated support.

Held virtually on 10 November 2021, ‘Responding to Children and Young People’s Experience of Family Violence’ was the final session in Safe and Equal’s 2021 Specialist Family Violence Leadership Group Forum.

The session provided an opportunity for leaders in the sector to hear directly from young people impacted by family violence, and to further explore what it really means for our sector to recognise and support children and young people as victim survivors in their own right.  

Youth advocate panel discussion: working with young people in their own right 

Setting the scene for the morning was the youth advocate panel discussion moderated by Tash, a survivor advocate and member of Safe and Equal’s Expert Advisory Panel. The five youth advocate panelists, Apryl*, Elvis, Liam*, Millie* and Kaitlyne, provided unique insight into how systemic responses can evolve to be more inclusive and responsive to children and young people, based on their experience and expertise.  

When discussing what it would look like for a service to work with a young person in their own right, panelists described the feeling of being ‘invisible’ in services and being seen as an extension of a parent rather than as an individual person. There are different, individual support needs required for children and young people, and services need to directly engage with them to ensure their needs are prioritised and seen as separate to the needs of adults, as well as other children and young people. Family violence can impact each child or young person differently – even those within the same family. 

The panel discussed gaps in the current service system, particularly around the lack of dedicated funding or support available for victim survivors turning 18, for young people from diverse cultural backgrounds, and for young LGBTIQA+ people experiencing family violence. Panelists described how complicated and overwhelming it can be to navigate services and environments, which can feel like a full-time job. They recommended a more holistic approach, where services consider the intersectionalities that impact young people and provide warm referrals and support accordingly.  

The importance of staff training, sector collaboration and the inclusion of lived experience within service frameworks was also highlighted by the youth advocates as integral to creating meaningful, ongoing change. The panel discussed how essential it is that children and young people see themselves reflected at all levels of an organisation, including as Board members.  

Prioritising the needs of children and young people in system reform  

In her keynote address, Principal Commissioner for Children and Young People Liana Buchanan noted that this event was the first time children and young people had been brought together with the specialist family violence sector in this way. 

Calling for the ongoing prioritisation of children and young people in public policy and service design, Commissioner Buchanan reflected on the immense work that has been done in this space, particularly following the Royal Commission into Family Violence, but acknowledged that there is much more to be done.  

“We cannot afford to take such a long time to improve responses to children and young people who are experiencing family violence.”

Liana Buchanan, Principal Commissioner for Children and Young People

 

Break-out room discussions 

Break-out rooms during the forum provided an opportunity for participants to reflect on specialist family violence responses to children and young people and consider future directions in policy and system reform. Key needs and priority advocacy areas that emerged from these discussions include: 

  • Increased funding and resources to support children and young people 
  • Tools, resources and training for services to create a safe and supportive environment for children and young people 
  • Advocacy for stronger responses to children and young people within our sector 
  • Embedding of lived experience to ensure services are accessible 
  • Increased investment and capacity for refuges to respond to the needs of children and young people.

We would like to thank the staff, members and survivor advocates who contributed their time and knowledge to this event. We hope to continue this conversation and build on our practice and policy expertise to provide children and young people with safe and responsive support and services. 

Page last updated Monday, January 31 2022

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Tailoring inclusive support for our communities

Tailoring inclusive support for our communities

Wednesday 26 January 2022

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Safe and Equal is proud to partner with specialist organisations Djirra, Berry Street's Y-Change Lived Experience Consultants, Switchboard, inTouch, Women with Disabilities Victoria, Seniors Rights Victoria, and Flatout to develop a suite of practitioner resources to support tailored and inclusive responses to family violence occurring across diverse communities and contexts.

Family violence is an intersectional social problem with far-reaching impacts that reinforce structural disadvantage and marginalisation across many different communities.  

While family violence can impact anyone, there are social, structural and systemic barriers caused by historic and ongoing discrimination that has seen certain groups excluded from or unable to access services, government programs, and equitable justice responses. Ageism, ableism, colonisation, criminalisation, homophobia, poverty, racism, sexism, transphobia and other forms of discrimination can all increase the severity and lasting impacts of family violence. 

To disrupt these barriers, responses to family violence must be inclusive, tailored and flexible. Victim survivors of family violence must be understood as the experts of their own experiences, with their own unique backgrounds, life experiences, perspectives, identities, strengths, hopes and needs. 

We have partnered with seven specialist organisations who support the most marginalised members of our community who experience intersecting forms of discrimination and violence, to provide practice guidance for tailored and inclusive family violence support. 

Read on for more information on each of the resources. 

Image for Safe + Equal_Djirra-18

Supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people 

This practice guidance has been prepared for family violence workers who are responding to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people experiencing family violence. This may include women and children who are experiencing family violence in the context of intimate partner violence, and/or women and children experiencing family violence in the context of kinship relationships and arrangements. 

This self-directed learning guide has been developed in partnership with Djirra, written from the perspective of an Aboriginal writer with experiences and input from other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women. It is prepared predominantly for family violence practitioners who are not Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. 

This practice guidance is a starting point to spark more questions, think about your own practices, and continue your learning.  

Supporting children and young people 

The voices of children and young people impacted by family violence are often invisible. This guide for family violence practitioners working to support children and young people has been co-produced with Berry Streey’s Y-Change Lived Experience Consultants – a group of young people aged 18-30 with lived experience of socioeconomic and systemic disadvantage who challenge the thinking and practices of social systems through their advocacy and leadership. 

The guide explores key considerations for supporting children and young people with lived experiences of family violence and features several practical activities you can do with children or young people accessing your service. The guide is complimented by a colouring-in activity that was also co-produced by Y-Change. The artwork and colouring-in activities were created by artist and illustrator, Chadai Chamoun.  

Find out more about Y-Change’s work here. 

Supporting LGBTIQA+ People 

People of all genders, sex and sexual orientations can experience family violence. Many lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and gender diverse, intersex, queer, and asexual or aromantic people have family violence experiences that mirror those within heterosexual and cisgender families and relationships. 

Because of biphobia, homophobia, transphobia, heterosexism and heteronormativity, there are also some distinctly different risk factors and barriers to support experienced by LGBTIQA+ people.  

We’ve partnered with Switchboard Victoria to develop a tip sheet to help practitioners responding to family violence provide LGBTIQA+ inclusive support, assessment, safety planning and referrals. 

Switchboard Victoria is a community based not for profit organisation that provides a peer-based support service for LGBTIQA+ people and their friends, families and allies. 

Supporting criminalised women 

Victim survivors who have been criminalised experience high rates of family violence and trauma, and the severity and impacts of this can be significant.  

The term ‘criminalised women’ is used to encompass women who have been imprisoned, have had contact with police for other matters, and/or who engage in criminalised activities such as illicit drug use or sex work.  

Victim survivors whose experiences of family violence intersect with their experiences of being criminalised, including experiences of incarceration, may experience discrimination in the family violence response system. This can increase their risk and impact their access to safety and support. 

Flat Out is a state-wide homelessness support and advocacy service for women who have had contact with the criminal justice and prison system in Victoria. They are an independent, not for profit, community-based organisation that is managed by and for women. Flat Out is committed to co-creating safer spaces, fostering support and self-determination for sistergirls, intersex, transgender and gender diverse women. 

To support services and practitioners to provide safe and inclusive responses to criminalised women, we have partnered with Flat Out to develop a tip sheet to help family violence practitioners understand systemic harm and violence and resist systemic collusion.  

The tip sheet is accompanied by a poster for display in a service. The poster is aimed at criminalised women and seeks to empower them to access the tip sheet and provide it to a service or practitioner they are working with. 

Criminalised women informed and shaped this resource, and we thank them for generously sharing their knowledge and experiences. 

Supporting people from migrant and refugee communities 

Family violence is widespread and is not inherent to any culture, country, or community. Victim survivors from migrant, refugee, and asylum-seeking backgrounds experience the same forms of family violence as the broader community. 

Because of racism, discrimination, language barriers, and differences in cultural contexts, people from migrant and refugee communities in Australia can be disproportionately impacted by family violence because they face some distinct risk factors and experience additional barriers to support. 

inTouch Multicultural Centre Against Family Violence is a specialist family violence service that works with women from migrant and refugee backgrounds in Victoria, including women who have experienced forced marriage.  

Forced marriage is a violation of human rights, a slavery-like practice, and a form of family violence that affects many people – especially women – in our community. While forced marriage is recognised by the Family Violence Protection Act 2008 (Vic), it has been acknowledged that the family violence system needs to improve capability to identify and respond to forced marriage in the context of family violence. 

To support this, we have partnered with inTouch to co-design a tip sheet to help family violence practitioners understand what forced marriage is, the signs to look out for, and best ways to support someone who has experienced forced marriage. This practice guide draws on the position paper Forced Marriage in Australia, published by InTouch in June 2021. 

Supporting people with disability 

In July 2021, we partnered with Women with Disabilities Victoria to deliver a webinar on person-centred risk assessment with victim survivors with disability.  

Facilitated by Keran Howe, panelists from Women with Disabilities Victoria’s Experts by Experience Group, the Office of the Public Advocate and family violence practitioners contributed their diverse perspectives and experiences. Together, they explored compounding risk factors and barriers to safety that people with disability experience. 

The webinar also explored ways specialist family violence practitioners can adapt their practice to ensure people with disability feel safe, heard and supported during risk assessments.

Supporting older people 

If you are supporting someone who is older or lives with an older person, it is vital you can recognise elder abuse and respond appropriately. 

Evidence shows there is a high prevalence of elder abuse perpetrated by adult children, and this can be a complex context for practitioners to support the safety and wellbeing of elder victim survivors.  

We have developed this resource in partnership with Seniors Rights Victoria, a specialist service that provides information, support, advice, and education to help prevent elder abuse and safeguard the rights, dignity and independence of older people. 

Seniors Rights Victoria identified that practitioners would benefit from increased guidance to support them to identify elder abuse, and to uphold the rights and safety of older people in intergenerational households – particularly when the older person may not be the primary client of the service. 

Page last updated Wednesday, January 26 2022

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Safe and Equal 2022 Budget Submission: Calling for a sustainable footing for the specialist family violence sector

Safe and Equal 2022 Budget Submission: Calling for a sustainable footing for the specialist family violence sector

Tuesday 18 January 2022

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Safe and Equal, Victoria’s peak body for specialist family violence services calls for an urgent uplift in funding for the specialist family violence services sector in the 2022 State Budget.

Whilst the significant amount of investment in improving Victoria’s family violence system following the Royal Commission is much welcomed, a range of complex factors are creating clear gaps and pressure points. These must be addressed immediately to ensure every victim survivor can access the support and safety they need at the time they need it.  

In Victoria, specialist family violence services are not funded at a level that meets increasing demand. The lack of funding not only impacts victim survivors but also results in high levels of staff turnover and burnout, with extreme difficulties recruiting and retaining experienced staff. 

Workers face constant job insecurity due to short-term contracts and are often paid less than those working in other community sectors. Increases in community awareness and pathways to support have further increased demand for services, creating rising pressure within the system as services struggle to keep up with an ever-growing client base, and an unprecedented number of high-risk and complex cases due in part to the COVID-19 pandemic that require more time and resources. 

“The demand for specialist family violence services is at an all-time high and the lack of funding is having a significant impact on not only the capacity of these services to support victim survivors, but the wellbeing of the workers who support them.Although the impact of COVID has contributed to strain on these services, the identified gaps and needs outlined in our submission should not come as a surprise to the state government. Specialist family violence worker capacity, emergency accommodation and services for children and young people are historical issues that require urgent attention.” – Tania Farha, CEO, Safe and Equal.

With current Victorian refuge capacity limited to accommodating 160 households at one time, and growing numbers of victim survivors requiring emergency accommodation, the availability of flexible crisis, transitional and long-term housing is integral to managing complex risk and keeping victim survivors safe from their perpetrators.   

It’s so difficult [for] the workers to be able to support [victim survivors] in that space when they have no stability and no safe space to sleep, or they don’t know where they are going to be next week.” – Team Leader, specialist family violence service.

A lack of clarity, consistency and resourcing in response to children and young people experiencing family violence is also a critical gap that must be addressed. Funding and structural limitations and a lack of minimum standards means the system is struggling to provide tailored, specialist responses to children and young people as victim survivors in their own right.  

The complexity of family violence work means it is vital the sector maintains a high-quality, specialist function. This includes the retention of a highly skilled and healthy workforce, the embedding of lived experience across all system responses, and peak body support and coordination to support workforce development, access and inclusion, and data capabilities.  

Safe and Equal’s budget submission to the Victorian Government calls for urgent funding to support several areas: 

  1. An uplift of core funding for all specialist family violence services to sustain and respond to increasing demand.  
  2. A 20% increase in funding levels allocated to infrastructure costs to enable all specialist family violence services to meet the prerequisites of contemporary community organisations.  
  3. The immediate implementation of a fit-for-purpose, flexible costing model. 
  4. An immediate increase in crisis accommodation places to enable 320 households to be accommodated on any night.  We also call for the prioritisation of 1000 dwellings for victim survivors of family violence to be built immediately as part of Victoria’s Big Housing Build, and a greater proportion of new social housing to be set aside for victim survivors of family violence in recognition of the proportion of people seeking support from supported housing services as a result of family violence.   
  5. Immediate funding to boost the specialist support provided to children and young people experiencing family violence. This includes the creation of a best practice framework for supporting children and young people along with additional 17 specialist practitioners to champion and lead best practice approaches to working with children and young people.  
  6. The creation of an ongoing Healthy Worker Fund (HWF) to support the health and well-being of the specialist family violence workforce.  
  7. The creation of an Embedding Lived Experience Fund (ELEF) to support the uptake and implementation of the Experts By Experience Framework.   
  8. Additional resourcing for sector coordination, capacity building and professional development to support innovation, best practice and sustainability of specialist family violence services.  

If adequately funded, the areas outlined above will enable the specialist family violence sector to respond to not just increasing levels of demand and client complexity but to a rapidly changing service environment stemming from the unprecedented level of government and systemic reform.   

View the 2022 Budget Submission here.

Page last updated Tuesday, January 18 2022

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2022 State Budget Submission

2022 State Budget Submission

18 January 2022

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Safe and Equal calls for an urgent uplift in funding for the specialist family violence services sector in the 2022 State Budget.

Whilst the significant amount of investment in improving Victoria’s family violence system following the Royal Commission is much welcomed, a range of complex factors are creating clear gaps and pressure points. These must be addressed immediately to ensure every victim survivor can access the support and safety they need at the time they need it.

In Victoria, specialist family violence services are not funded at a level that meets increasing demand. The lack of funding not only impacts victim survivors but also results in high levels of staff turnover and burnout, with extreme difficulties recruiting and retaining experienced staff.

If adequately funded, the focus areas outlined in our budget submission will enable the specialist family violence sector to respond to not just increasing levels of demand and client complexity but to a rapidly changing service environment stemming from the unprecedented level of government and systemic reform.  

Page last updated Tuesday, January 18 2022

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Calling for a sustainable footing for the specialist family violence sector

Calling for a sustainable footing for the specialist family violence sector

Tuesday 18 January 2022

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An unprecedented amount of investment has been made in improving Victoria’s family violence system following the Royal Commission. While this has been welcomed by the family violence sector, there remains a range of complex issues which are creating clear gaps and mounting pressure on the emerging system. As the Victorian government gears up to release the 2022 state budget, we are calling for an urgent uplift in funding to secure a sustainable footing for the specialist family violence services sector, so every victim survivor can access the support and safety they need at the time they need it.

Where are the gaps?

There are ongoing issues around service sustainability, demand and resourcing in the specialist family violence sector. Essentially, services need funding at a level that meets increasing demand.  

An increase in community awareness means more victim survivors feel comfortable seeking support, however without adequate funding services cannot keep up with this ever-growing client base. Services are having to triage cases, meaning those who are assessed as lower risk will wait longer for case management. Wait times are only increasing as we see more high-risk and complex cases, due in part to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. 

It is also important to note that while we know from years of anecdotal evidence that demand for family violence services is reaching unsustainable levels, meaningful and reliable data is complex and difficult to collect. Without ongoing government investment and commitment to data collection and analysis, we will never have the whole picture on demand.  

What we do know is that team leaders and managers from many of our member organisations have expressed concern at the impact demand issues are having on victim survivor safety, and staff wellbeing and mental health. Workers want to do the best for their clients but the ever-rising demand for services, and the impacts of COVID-19 have resulted in high levels of staff turnover and burnout.  

Our indicative data suggests that most specialist services are working at a significantly reduced capacity due in part to worker burnout and staff retention issues, creating added pressure for remaining staff. One specialist service reported that the number of intake and assessment staff taking mental health days increased by at least 50 per cent during 2020. Services have difficulty recruiting and retaining experienced specialist staff, meaning new and inexperienced workers are holding significant caseloads, complexity and risk. They are reporting that after two to three years, workers are moving on to other, more secure jobs outside the specialist sector – jobs that pay more and are able to provide longer-term contracts.  

System reforms arising from the Royal Commission into Family Violence, while welcomed, have meant that many services must implement significant changes to meet new industry requirements, using existing core funding. This adds extra pressure to an already buckling workforce at full capacity. 

As services grapple with unsustainable demand and resourcing issues, the lack of crisis accommodation and long-term housing remain critical system gaps that require immediate attention. Currently, in Victoria there is only capacity to accommodate 160 households in refuge. We know the need is much higher.  

This significant lack of available refuges has meant victim survivors are often placed in motels. This year, Safe Steps supported an average of 97 victim survivors in crisis accommodation each night, with some months averaging as high as 120 people per night.  

While using motels as a form of emergency accommodation has been necessary, it is not suitable for victim survivors of family violence whose lives are at significant risk. Motels are simply unable to provide the level of care and safety required.  

Another critical gap is the lack of clarity, consistency and resourcing in responses to children and young people experiencing family violence. Funding and structural limitations along with a lack of minimum standards means the system, while trying, is struggling to provide tailored, specialist responses to children and young people as victim survivors in their own right.  

What is needed?

To deliver the best quality services to victim survivors of family violence, Safe and Equal is calling for an urgent increase in funding for the specialist family violence sector. This funding must be at a level that enables the sector to respond to not just increasing levels of demand and client complexity, but to a rapidly changing service environment stemming from the unprecedented level of government and systemic reform. 

This doesn’t just mean money for more workers to deliver more services to clients – although this is also needed. It is about investing in the longevity and sustainability of the specialist family violence sector, to ensure the best outcomes for victim survivors – both adults and children.  

It means: 

  • Longer-term staff contracts with a minimum of 3 years 
  • Longer-term program funding 
  • Increased wages for specialist family violence workers that reflect the complexity of the work, the skill set and level of qualifications required to work in the sector 
  • Increased funding to support staff professional development and wellbeing, to ensure highly skilled workers remain in the sector and do not experience burnout  
  • Immediate implementation of a fit-for-purpose, flexible costing model, and increasing funding for infrastructure costs, to enable all specialist family violence services to meet new requirements arising from reforms 
  • An immediate increase in specialist family violence crisis accommodation to enable 320 households to be accommodated on any night, the prioritisation of 1000 dwellings for victim survivors to be built immediately as part of the Victorian Big Housing Build initiative, and a greater proportion of new social housing to be set aside for victim survivors of family violence. 

For the system to be effective, all parts must be appropriately and adequately resourced to ensure people seeking support do not encounter roadblocks. There are many reforms and changes to the system in recent years that have made for a more inclusive, integrated system. These are certainly worth celebrating. However, the very sustainability of the system is under significant pressure from issues around demand and resourcing – issues that require immediate attention to ensure improvements gained over the last five years are not in vain.  

Read our submission to the 2022 Victorian State Budget.

Page last updated Tuesday, January 18 2022

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