Introduction
Growing awareness of violence against women | Changing community attitudes
Complex, confronting and disempowering | Changes and improvements
A long way to go | Domestic Violence Interagency Guidelines
Growing awareness of violence against women
Over the last 20 years, awareness of the nature and extent of violence against women has grown dramatically, leading to a series of changes to the law and the development of an extensive range of support and legal services for women who experience violence. Such services provide accommodation, counselling, information, advocacy and support.
Changing community attitudes
Community attitudes towards violence against women have also changed. Violence in the home is now recognised as a public, not a private matter. There is an increased understanding throughout the community that violence can take many forms, and includes sexual harassment, stalking, domestic violence, sexual assault, hate crimes and emotional abuse and that many forms of domestic violence are crimes. It is also recognised that violence in any form infringes upon the human rights of women, and has a severe impact on women's ability to participate in our community.
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Complex, confronting and disempowering
Working in the area of domestic violence is complex, not least because it involves confronting issues which were once seen to be in "the private sphere": power dynamics and other aspects of relationships between women and men and between adults and children, within the family. Dealing with this complexity can lead to a situation where people downplay the seriousness of domestic violence, or try to stereotype victims, without acknowledging that it is the fact that the violence occurs within an intimate domestic relationship that makes it so disempowering.
Victims of domestic violence experience feelings of shock, shame, despair and confusion which means they may feel powerless to act in their own, or their children's best interests. For many women, economic dependency and the lack of extended family or community supports makes escape from violence even harder.
A broad social problem
Domestic violence is a serious and broad social problem. The Australian Bureau of Statistics reported in 1996 that 23% of women who had ever been married or in a de facto relationship had experienced violence by their partner at some time during the relationship. Exposure to violence in the family also has dramatic and negative affects on the well being of children, which may impact on many of those children's ability to develop and maintain successful family and personal relationships. | The economic costs associated with dealing with the impact of domestic violence, that is, the provision of crisis accommodation, housing, health, police, counselling and court services, as well as lost productivity and family breakdown place an enormous burden on state and national budgets and generate large scale social costs.
Effective intervention in domestic violence is essential for many reasons including:
- ensuring the safety of victims and potential victims
- facilitating healthier relationships
- minimising other negative social and economic impacts
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Changes and improvements
Strategy
Over the past decade government strategy has evolved.
In 1991 the NSW Domestic Violence Statement of Principles was adopted and the NSW Domestic Violence Strategic Plan was developed.
In 1996 the NSW Strategy to Reduce Violence Against Women was introduced to provide whole of government responses to all forms of violence against women, including domestic violence.
This strategy aims to develop and promote effective prevention strategies, and to improve access to services.
Legislation
There have been many changes in legislation. Some of the most significant developments have been:
| Support services
Over the past 15 years there have been developments and improvements in services including:
- The NSW Women’s Domestic Violence Court Assistance Program (WDVCAP) which funds Women’s Domestic Violence Court Assistance Schemes (WDVCAS) to assist women in AVO applications
- The Victims Support Line, a 24hour support, information and referral for victims of crime
- Funding for women’s refuges, and other services including the 24 hour Domestic Violence Line run by the Department of Community Services
- The establishment of Domestic Violence Liaison Officers within NSW Police (now numbering 150 officers)
- The development of domestic violence policy and procedures within a range of government agencies including NSW Police, NSW Health, the Department of Housing, the Department of Community Services and the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.
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A long way to go
Despite the progress made in these areas, many women continue to feel unsafe. Some sections of the community still believe women are responsible for violence committed against them. There is also a limited understanding of the ways in which violence perpetrated in a domestic relationship disempowers women and makes them feel they cannot escape the violence.
These feelings can be exacerbated where children are involved or where women come from cultural or social backgrounds where domestic relationships are dealt with in a social, religious or family context and legal sanctions to address domestic violence are not the norm.
Workers in the field do not have easy access to all the information they need to work effectively with people experiencing domestic violence.
There is considerable room for improvement in government departments and other agencies both in their own work and the way in which they collaborate with each other.
This document represents a substantial step towards the goal of improved collaboration.
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Domestic Violence Interagency Guidelines
The Domestic Violence Interagency Guidelines are one tool in the many strategies for reducing domestic violence and enhancing the coordination between agencies and services.
The Guidelines have been written for workers in the field working in or dealing with the legal system and/or working with women dealing with the legal system.
The Guidelines answer key questions including:
- What is domestic violence?
- How do you work with the legal system in responding to domestic violence?
- What are each agency’s roles?
- How can agencies work together better?
- What principles underpin the work?
- What resources and services are available to workers and to support women experiencing domestic violence?
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