Consultation open on Family Violence Risk Assessment and Management Framework

The Ministry of Justice is seeking feedback on a draft framework which provides guidance to effectively identify, assess and manage the risks of family violence.  

Identifying risk and intervening as early as possible are essential in preventing family violence and further escalation. The framework seeks to set out good practice to enable a consistent, co-ordinated approach to improve how services respond to victims of family violence to better support them. It also looks at managing the risks perpetrators pose and how to help them change their behaviour.

The Ministry is keen to hear from those who work directly or are involved in family violence to draw on their knowledge and experience to further develop the framework. It wants to clearly understand what current practices people are using to help ensure the framework is practicable in a work environment.  It is also interested in people’s views about how the framework could be implemented and what is needed to support this.

People can provide their feedback by participating in the online consultation on the Ministry of Justice website.

The consultation closes on Friday 16 September at 5pm. (Please note this has been extended from the original date of 2 September.)

The framework is a key part of the all-of-government Ministerial Work Programme on Family Violence and Sexual Violence jointly led by the Ministers of Justice and Social Development. The programme was set up to reduce family violence and the harm it causes, keep victims safe and break the cycle of re-victimisation. More information on the family and sexual violence work programme can be found on the Ministry of Justice website.

Related information is provided in this previous NZFVC news story: Update on Ministerial Group on Family and Sexual Violence work programme (August 2016).

*Update: Consultation workshops on the Risk Assessment and Management Framework are being held in Auckland, Hastings, Wellington and Christchurch in August: see the Events listing for details.*

Related research and resources

For research and resources on risk assessment in family violence, see the New Zealand Family Violence Clearinghouse Issues Paper, Risk assessment: What is it and how can it be applied in family violence? (2015)

The Ministry of Health has recently released their Family violence assessment and intervention guideline: Child abuse and intimate partner violence (2016).

The Family Violence Death Review Committee has discussed the need for risk assessment and management in their Annual Reports.

Media

Improving how the Govt responds to family violence, Beehive: Amy Adams and Anne Tolley, 09.08.2016

Image: Puzzle pieces by Liza. Licence: CC Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)