Djirra and Safe and Equal are working to support a culturally responsive and accountable specialist family violence sector. We want to hear from mob your views on non-Aboriginal family violence services, how they can support Aboriginal people’s choices and culture and be accountable to community.
Your time is valuable and you will be offered $100 for your participation.
Call or text Anna 0447 404 334 or email [email protected]
Do you work in the Victorian family violence services system? Safe and Equal together with the Monash Gender and Family Violence Prevention Centre are conducting a stocktake of client feedback processes used in family violence services.
Click here to complete the anonymous survey
Led by the Centre for Family Research and Evaluation (CFRE) at Drummond Street Services, in partnership with research partners the Centre for Innovative Justice (CIJ) at RMIT University and the Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS), and funded by Family Safety Victoria, Future-proofing Safety was a research project that sought to understand how services across Victoria responded to family violence during COVID-19.
Future-proofing Safety purposefully took a system-wide view of service interactions for people who experienced or used family violence during COVID-19. The multi-faceted project design recognised that many conventional entry points to support and approaches to service delivery fell away during the COVID-19 period. This occurred as practitioners contended with unprecedented challenges to support a population in crisis, while simultaneously adapting to the changes that the crisis brought about in their own lives.
The research highlighted a number of significant challenges and specific opportunities for services and clients that emerged over the course of the pandemic. These included elevated client risk and need, changed service responses, gaps and weaknesses within the family violence and sexual assault service system, and the complex impacts of COVID-19 on the workforce. In addition to highlighting key findings and recommendations, the final research report takes a future focus by offering a framework for crisis readiness responses that aims to future-proof how Victoria responds to family violence and disadvantage during future crises.
This snapshot examines risk and protective factors for intimate partner violence victimisation among Australian adolescents. The aim of this resource is to help you identify populations who could be at increased risk, so that protective factors can be strengthened. Although the current snapshot focuses on victim-survivors, we emphasise that prevention of intimate partner violence perpetration should be a core focus of policy intervention.
This snapshot focuses on victim-survivors of intimate partner violence. As such, the core aim of this work is to further understand the scope of intimate partner violence victimisation among Australian 18–19 year olds. Specific focus is given to different forms of intimate partner violence victimisation, and rates of intimate partner violence among adolescent females and males. The potentially protective role of peers and parents against intimate partner violence is considered.
The following questions are addressed: (1) How prevalent is intimate partner violence and abuse victimisation among adolescents aged 18–19 years? (2) What are the most common violent or abusive behaviours experienced by adolescents in an intimate relationship? (3) Do supportive friendships in the teen years reduce the risk of intimate partner violence and abuse victimisation at ages 18–19 years? (4) Do supportive relationships with parents in the teen years reduce the risk of intimate partner violence and abuse victimisation at ages 18–19 years?
Click here to read full report
This is the first release of the National Gambling Trends Study (NGTS) findings, which will be produced annually by the Australian Gambling Research Centre (AGRC) at the Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS). The aim of the NGTS is to present timely information on recent trends, emerging issues and possible future directions in gambling participation and related harms in Australia. The information is relevant for gambling policy makers and regulators, service providers, researchers and the broader community. A long-term goal of the NGTS is to support the development and implementation of evidence-based approaches to prevent and reduce gambling-related harm in Australia.
Findings indicate 4 out of 5 regular pokies gamblers and 2 in 3 regular online bettors are already experiencing or are at risk of gambling harms. Young people aged 18-34 are at the highest risk of gambling harm in Australia. This highlights the need for the development of approaches to reduce gambling related harm in Australia. Access the latest findings today.
Click here to read full report
The ‘middle years’, or early adolescence (8–14 years), of a child’s life are a period of key developments in sexual maturity, the brain, social and emotional cognition and self-awareness. During the middle years, the influence of peer relationships on a young person’s social and emotional development also begins to intensify. Australian research indicates that although friendships are important to young people in this age group, they can also be a source of anxiety and stress. Therefore, it is important to understand what factors influence peer relationships in the middle years to be able to better support young people’s mental health, development and wellbeing.
This short article summarises key findings from a systematic review by Mitic and colleagues (2021) that looked at the determinants of supportive peer relationships in early adolescence.
There are inadequate resources available to support lesbian, gay, bi + , trans and gender diverse, intersex and queer (LGBTIQ) people experiencing family violence in Australia. Government funding agencies and mainstream family violence service providers regularly state that there is insufficient evidence to justify investment in more inclusive services.
This recently published research article explores practitioner perceptions of such claims and calls for more investment in research and data gathering about family violence against LGBTIQ people and provision of effective supports.
This article examines the nature of risks and how they are experienced and challenged, through a case study analysis of the implementation of the Australian state of Victoria’s Victim Survivors’ Advisory Council. Analysing government reports and interviews with survivors and policymakers, the article investigates how the state asserts control over survivors under the guise of co-production, inadvertently compromising public value creation.
The Children’s Voices for Change project is seeking children and young people aged 10 to 25, who have lived experience of family violence, to take part in an online activity.
This project is being led by Southern Cross University, in partnership with Safe and Equal and the Centre for Excellence in Child & Family Welfare.
It is funded as part of the Victorian Government’s Family Violence Research Agenda 2021-2024.
The research project seeks to understand what constitutes effective supports for children and young people as victim-survivors of family violence in their own right.
This stage of the project involves research with children and young people with lived experience of family violence, through an anonymous, interactive online activity. This phase has been approved by Southern Cross University’s Human Research Ethics Committee (approval no. 2023/115).
The project is recruiting children and young people who:
- are 10 to 25 years old; and
- have experience accessing family violence support services in Victoria when they were up to 13 years old; and
- have an established relationship with a service or network; and
- are not currently in distress or crisis.
If you can help with identifying potential participants who meet these criteria, please share this opportunity. The online activity will be open until Friday 18 August.
Click here for more information about the project
Shaping how organisations can best keep children and young people safe.
This is a crucial moment in history, as we acknowledge the past failures of institutions and adults in protecting the safety of children and young individuals.
Between 2021 and 2022, the Centre for Social Impact at the University of Western Australia conducted an impact evaluation of the Australian Childhood Foundation’s Safeguarding Services.
This research project was grounded in qualitative methods and involved collaborating with organisations that have partnered with the Foundation to enhance their capacity and foster a supportive environment for the well-being and safety of children and young people who engage in their services.