Research to Shape Victoria's Response to Family Violence
5 May 2016 at 11:09 am
Monash University is urging professionals, including those in the Not for Profit sector, to take part in new research to help shape the way Victoria responds to family violence.
The university was commissioned by the Victorian Government to review the state’s Family Violence Risk Assessment and Risk Management Framework, also known as the common risk assessment framework (CRAF).
Professor Jude McCulloch, who leads the research team, said it was important to understand how the CRAF was being used and its strengths and weaknesses.
“Professionals who respond to family violence now have an opportunity to have their say in an online survey. They can also register to participate in focus groups across the state and attend a community forum,” McCulloch said.
“This includes workers in child protection, corrections, community health, disability, drug and alcohol, housing, Indigenous, maternal child health, mental health, sexual assault and specialist family violence services.
“Doctors, hospital and emergency staff, court staff, teachers, early childhood educators and police are also encouraged to participate.
“It’s crucial that we hear from as wide a variety of people as possible as we take on this important work of reviewing Victoria’s family violence framework.”
Victorian Minister for Families and Children, Jenny Mikakos, said the review responded to the first recommendation from the Royal Commission into Family Violence, which calls for a best-practice framework that meets the needs of all in the community.
“The Victorian Government has committed to an ambitious roadmap for reform as we work with communities to intervene early to prevent the damage caused by child neglect, abuse and family violence,” Mikakos said.
In April, the Victorian Government pledged half a billion dollars to reduce family violence in Victoria in response to the royal commission recommendations.
The CRAF was launched in 2007 and, at the time, was the first state-wide risk assessment and management framework in Australia.
The Monash University survey can be found here.
The Royal Commission into Family Violence stayed well within a positivist bubble, turning to those services that have across the past 50 years or more, persistently failed women and children, for guidance. That the Royal Commission conceded at the outset that it had little idea of what ‘complex trauma’ was and how it impacts upon women and children victims of family violence, further tells me how out of step that lengthy inquiry was with current best practice. So in effect, rather than resolving the myriad of problems caused by family violence, the Royal Commission into Family Violence will instead reinforce those problems. At least the Royal Commission into Institutional Child Sexual Abuse has recognised that complex trauma must be a core consideration (see, for example, Issue Paper #10, and related submissions) when responding to the adult survivors of child sexual assault. The Royal Commission into Family Violence was silent about the ongoing therapeutic support needs of the countless thousands of adults who, as children, were permanently traumatised by family violence.