DV: Family Violence Assessment Guide launched

DATE: Tuesday, July 31, 2007

A NEW APPROACH TO FAMILY VIOLENCE IN VICTORIA

The Minister for Children and the Minister for Women’s Affairs today addressed 700 participants on the Brumby Government’s new approach to tackling family violence in Victoria.

At the Working together to respond to children and young people affected by family violence forum, the Minister for Children, Lisa Neville, said the Government was taking a lead role in developing new ways to reduce the incidence of and improve the outcomes for those affected by family violence.

“Reporting rates for family violence are increasing but we believe that every Victorian child should be able to live safely in their home and community and therefore a new approach has been developed to break the cycle of family violence,” Ms Neville said.

“We know that up to 25 per cent of young people between the age of 12 and 20 have witnessed parental violence and one of the ways we can turn that around is by empowering parents and children to report family violence.

“We know that early childhood experiences do impact on lifelong learning, on children’s behaviour and their physical and mental health.”

The Minister for Women’s Affairs, Jacinta Allan, said the new family violence assessment guide, announced last week, would be an important part of this Governments approach to tackling family violence.

“The assessment guide will mean professionals, including school teachers, doctors, police, courts and specialist family violence services will be better supported to identify and respond to family violence,” Ms Allan said.

The new approach to Family Violence also includes;
· The establishment of regional committees across Victoria to coordinate the rollout of family violence services. This will result in the development of a range of local innovative initiatives.

· Clearer protocols between police, family violence services and family services are currently being developed. These will assist in the development of better ways of working together to ensure that the interests and needs of children receive prominence.

Practice Guidelines for counselling and support programs for women and children are currently being finalized to assist the provision of high quality services for women and children affected by family violence.

Source: Ministerial media release