BACKGROUND

1. BACKGROUND • NSW (1983) & Victoria (1987) domestic violence legislation • By 1987 only 3.2% of orders made in NSW excluded the offender from the family home • 1990’s survey of magistrates • 1996 Womens Safety Australia survey • 1997 WESNET policy

2. BACKGROUND 2 • Pilots in Port Lincoln and EDVOS • Integrated model in ACT • Robyn Edwards research • 2004: DOCS funds 2 NSW Pilots • Test conditions for women and children to stay home safely • Two year pilots • 2007 NSW Labour Government commitment

3. What happens at SHLV • Referral (can be self referral) • Doesn’t need an exclusion order/AVO • Risk assessment • Security audit of house • Safety plan developed with client • Security installed within 24-48 hours • Can stay with family/friends/refuge while upgrade occurs • Ongoing support: initially intense/reduces

4. Community Campaign • Positive message • Need support of family/friends/work colleagues • Need to respond to needs of excluded partner • Media campaign • Mail information card to all households • Cinema/TV/Radio • Information Forum

5. DEMOGRAPHICS • May 2005-January 2007 • 37 women and 63 children • 37% with teenager or grown-up children • 68% were in 30s and 40s.

6. Demographics 2 • 75% of clients were employed (despite only 51.6% of BVS working age population being in workforce) • Over one third of referrals were self, with only 6 coming from police • Accommodation was evenly distributed between private rental, public housing and home ownership. • 15 cases remained open. • Access to program: Indigenous families, rural isolation?

7. Eastern Sydney Demographics In 1st 12 months of operation: • 107 referrals of women seeking information and support • 38 referrals for women wishing to remain in their own homes; • 28 women became long term clients of the service, • Of the other 10 women, 7 chose to return to their relationships and 3 were unsuccessful in gaining an AVO to exclude their partner from the home. • Support periods have ranged from 2 to 12 months SHLV Eastern Sydney

8. Eastern Sydney Demographics Of 28 case managed clients in 2006, • Their average age was 40, ranging from 22 to 56 • 13 living were in public housing, 8 in private tenancies and 7 in privately owned homes • 14 were employed either full or part time • 3 are indigenous women • 9 are women from CALD communities • 5 are women living with disabilities • 3 were using alcohol or other drugs • 10 have previously stayed in SAAP accommodation • 15 have previously used a domestic violence support service. SHLV Eastern Sydney

9. MOU with Police A non negotiable essential

10. Specifies role and responsibilities of both agencies • How, who and what • Communication: • Information sharing • Data • Confidentiality • Complaints and disputes • Monitoring of MOU (managers, crime coordinator, VAW specialist)

11. 3 SIMPLE STEPS FOR ATTENDING POLICE • Inform women about the SHLV option (provide card) • Police encouraged to seek exclusion (TIO) • Keep the woman informed after event • Consent and Referral to SHLV • SOPS • Proactive policing: repeat offenders monitored • COPS entry (warning on location) • Locations discussed at Tasking and Deployment

12. How to get a MOU • Negotiate • What’s in it for the police • Leadership • Training • Monitoring

13. OTHER MOUS • HOUSING (upgrades, waiving debt) • COMMUNITY TENANCY • DOCS (referral) • COURT ASSISTANCE • COURTS (access to information/referral)

14. Eastern Sydney MOU with Police • Police provide victims of DV with information card and ask consent to make a referral to SHLV • SHLV makes preliminary assessment, provides information and referrals • Where women wish to remain in their homes they become long term case managed clients of SHLV • Police are encouraged to apply for TIOs with exclusion conditions. • DVLOs update officers on victim location and other issues • SHLV provides police with training • 57% of clients have been referred by police under the MOU SHLV Eastern Sydney

15. Risk Assessment • Need for risk assessment that focused on women who were staying in their homes • Different assumptions • Developed with assistance from the Australian DV Clearinghouse SHLV Eastern Sydney

16. Risk Assessment Issues • Which kind of assessment is appropriate? • When do we assess risk? • What happens if we assess the risk as high? • Women’s own assessments of risk? • How does risk assessment inform our actions and decisions? SHLV Eastern Sydney

17. Risk Assessment Risk of lethal violence • Decision Making • History of abuse in the relationship • Potential for serious injury or death • Escalation • Safety of remaining in the home • Perpetrator history , D&A use, MH, Criminality • Homicide or suicide threats • Risk of harm to children Other risks • Case Planning • Perpetrator characteristics and behaviour, • Financial issues • Tenancy and housing • Support needs • Legal issues and family law • Health and mental health • Children support needs Safety Planning • Security upgrade • Safety strategies • Emergency plan • Safety in the home, at work, in public, with children. • Opportunities for abusive contact SHLV Eastern Sydney

18. Safety Planning Key Questions • Are the children at risk? • To stay or flee? • Is she able to contact police at all times? • Is she able to wait safely while waiting for a police response? (Issues for rural women) Key Strategies • Security upgrades • Safe room strategy • Emergency planning • Informing police of the safety plan • Ensure safety plan addresses the needs of the children, and is age appropriate. SHLV Eastern Sydney

19. Safety Planning Strategies • Vitalcall alarms, attached to landline telephone in the client’s home. The client wears a pendant with an alarm button, and when activated the automatic dialling unit contacts a call centre, who check the response required and call the police. • Mobile phones, • Replacement locks, • Screen doors, where permissible by fire codes • Other hardware, including security chains, peepholes, window locks. • High volume personal alarms, for attracting attention in the event of an emergency in public. SHLV Eastern Sydney

20. Worker safety • Risk assessment is completed before any home visit is undertaken • Home visits are conducted by two staff, or with Police • Before all visits, workers phone the client to ensure that the abusive person is not present • Mobile phones • Vehicles • Initial phone contacts • Location of the offices SHLV Eastern Sydney

21. WORK and HOME • When you are employed, especially if you have children, routine is everything. If I went into the refuge, I would lose my routine and would have to give up my job, and I didn’t want to give up my job. • (Bega ex-client, in conversation with author 12/12/06)

22. EXCLUDED PARTNERS • Accommodation • Counselling • Finances • Only a tenth of the funding allocated by Safe At Home for accommodation brokerage for removed offenders has been used.

23. SUSTAINABILITY • Victims Compensation systems could be more aggressively targeted to support housing sustainability. • Family Law settlements could be more rigorously challenged: the WA Women’s Legal Referral Service links women to pro bono lawyers and financial advisers to help them get a fair financial settlement. • A more systematic provision of no interest loans could be negotiated with the banks.

24. EVALUATION • Chose action research • 3 stages • Client demographics • Client Outcomes: four possibilities • Data from Police • Court Data: 75% reduction in final orders

25. FUTURE • What sort of program? • Outreach gap-service specifications • Train mainstream domestic violence agencies? • Part of a complimentary program? • Central support unit to implement specialist areas and NSW advisory committee • Statewide integration • Role of VAW • SOPS and Generic MOU

26. COMMUNITY ATTITUDES • If a random sample of 2000 Victorians is a fair indicator of Australian attitudes, then the Australian community now expects that it is the physically violent partner who should be made to leave the family home. (VicHealth, 2006: 91% of respondents). • This is excellent progress from the 1990’s, when, perhaps with the exception of the ACT, Australians generally, and the legal and support system particularly, expected the victims to leave.