Embedding system-wide reform requires clear and consistent leadership. The MARAM and information sharing WoVG change management strategy sets out the following strategic actions:
- strategic plans for change management[4]
- governance to monitor and support implementation efforts
- consistent and accurate messaging
- ensuring sector readiness through implementation supports.
Section A: Family Safety Victoria as WoVG lead
Family Safety Victoria coordinates all MARAM and FVISS (MARAMIS) work across government.
Refreshed MARAMIS governance
In late 2022, Family Safety Victoria reviewed and refreshed MARAMIS governance. This responded to machinery of government changes that affected organisational structures.
The new governance structure continues to provide system-wide oversight and strategic leadership across government and the sector. It brings together expertise to address emerging needs and challenges.
Figure 7 sets out the new governance structure.
The dotted arrows reflect where groups share information, as required, on shared programs of work.
The solid arrows reflect advisory groups that directly inform other governance groups, which then ultimately reports to the Family Violence Reform Board.
Figure 7: MARAMIS governance map
MARAM Maturity Model – supporting system-wide alignment
During 2022–23, eight Sector Champion organisations, representing more than 20 services[5], guided the design of Maturity Model resources. The Maturity Model will help prescribed organisations self-assess and benchmark their progress in MARAM alignment.
Family Safety Victoria has developed the model and its resources in response to requests from organisational leaders for greater certainty and support to meet their legislative requirements. The model is also aimed at providing a common language and benchmarks for organisational alignment across all sectors and to assist in action planning.
Current resources include:
- MARAM Maturity Model on a page, which provides a snapshot of the stages of alignment
- MARAM Maturity Roadmap, which links the four framework pillars with the Maturity Model, and lists indicators and actions for each stage
- MARAM Maturity Assess Mate, an interactive self-assessment tool for organisations to get tailored suggestive action plans at a local level.
Figure 8: MARAM Maturity Model stages
Family Safety Victoria will test and finalise the resources with department and sector stakeholders before reflecting updates and fully implementing the model in 2024–25.
Section B: Departments as portfolio leads
Department of Education
The Department of Education[6] provides leadership and oversight of MARAM implementation through the Child Safety and Family Violence Project Control Board (PCB). The PCB is responsible for major projects and the strategic direction, coordination and integration of child safety frameworks.
These frameworks include:
- Child Safe Standards
- Reportable Conduct Scheme
- information sharing and risk frameworks – CISS, FVISS and MARAM
- mandatory reporting in early childhood and care settings and schools
- criminal offences – failure to disclose offence and failure to protect offence.
The PCB also oversees DE’s responses to reports and recommendations made by external bodies. These include the Commission for Children and Young People, the Victorian Auditor-General, the Victorian Ombudsman, Family Safety Victoria, the Family Violence Reform Implementation Monitor and the Child Abuse Royal Commission Interdepartmental Committee.
In 2022–23, the PCB approved approaches for:
- MARAM guidance, training development and delivery
- implementing MARAM in education and care services
- consultation about MARAM tools for education workforces
- proposed updates to the PROTECT website
- updating the Identifying and responding to all forms of harm and abuse resource and PROTECT Four Critical Actions.
Department of Families, Fairness and Housing (including Family Safety Victoria)
The department works across five ministerial portfolios including Child Protection and Family Services, Disability, Housing and Multicultural Affairs, and Prevention of Family Violence.
Key activities in 2022–23 included:
- updating the Protecting Children Protocol between the department, Aboriginal Children in Aboriginal Care (ACAC) providers and Victoria Police, among other changes, including aligning to MARAM. The Protocol supports these agencies to work together to keep children safe
- piloting a new approach to collecting family violence data through the Victorian African Communities Action Plan (VACAP) Employment Brokers Program. This will help identify the number and type of family violence referrals through the program, and how family violence acts as a barrier to employment
- commencement of the disability-specific Men’s Behaviour Change (Family Violence) program for perpetrators of family violence with cognitive disability who face barriers accessing mainstream services
- information sharing resources for the community housing workforce to support the use of MARAM, the CISS and the FVISS.
Department of Government Services
Consumer Affairs Victoria transitioned from the Department of Justice and Community Safety to the newly established Department of Government Services in January 2023.
The Department of Government Services plays a leadership role in the MARAM alignment work of the Dispute Settlement Centre of Victoria (DSCV), and funded agencies in the Financial Counselling Program (FCP) and Tenancy Assistance and Advocacy Program (TAAP).
Activities in 2022–23 included:
- quarterly MARAM e-newsletters, review meetings, direct email correspondence, agency managers meetings, and practitioner network meetings. These activities support all funded programs to embed MARAM practice
- monthly meetings with DSCV, FCP and TAAP managers, and quarterly review meetings with FCP and TAAP agencies, to share feedback on progress, challenges and opportunities for improvement
- participating in WoVG working group meetings, including the MARAMIS Directors forum, CISS working group, and MARAMIS Working Group forums
- regular consultation with the Department of Justice and Community Safety MARAM implementation team about tailored family violence and MARAM training for DSCV, FCP, and TAAP delivered in the second half of 2022.
Department of Health
Throughout 2022–23, the Department of Health supported health organisations to align to the MARAM Framework.
Activities included:
- convening the MARAMIS internal working group, which assists the sector to identify and respond to family violence and helps ensure MARAM alignment successes are shared across organisations
- working on the Strengthening Hospital Responses to Family Violence (SHRFV) initiative with The Royal Women’s Hospital and Bendigo Health, which are the state-wide leads for the project
- publishing resources to support organisations such as alcohol and other drug services and Ambulance Victoria to support employees experiencing family violence.
Department of Justice and Community Safety
The Department of Justice and Community Safety’s Family Violence and Mental Health (FVMH) Branch has a MARAM team that leads implementation.
The team assists prescribed business units to provide sector support for their workforces to operationalise the MARAM Framework.
Other leadership activities in 2022–23 include:
- the Justice Health MARAM Sector Support Lead role commenced in May 2023 and began working collaboratively across the business unit and Corrections and Justice Services more broadly
- a new Community Correctional Services Family Violence Practice Committee as part of the governance structure for family violence
- new primary health service providers for Justice Health were supported to understand their contractual obligations and reporting requirements
- two Youth Justice Family Violence Practice Lead roles to support Youth Justice staff with family violence risk assessments and safety planning
- the Victims of Crime Helpline and Victims Assistance Program (VAP) continue to use the expertise of Family Violence Practice Leads (FVPLs) to provide on-the-job training, coaching and reflective practice sessions to operational staff
- Victim Services Support and Reform became the first business unit within a Victorian government department to receive Rainbow Tick accreditation, demonstrating a commitment to safe and inclusive services for the LGBTIQA+ community
- the Aboriginal Justice Group (AJG) continued to support culture and practice change in the two funded ACCOs, Djirra and Dardi Munwurro, as well as regionally based services and partners. This included ensuring services and responses provided to people from Aboriginal communities are culturally responsive and safe, recognise rights to self-determination and self-management, and consider experiences of colonisation, systemic violence and discrimination.
The courts
In 2022–23, the courts:
- commissioned an upgrade to the lizARD2 platform used by applicant and respondent practitioners. The upgrade strengthens the accurate and timely recording of MARAM assessments and improves data reporting for court users both experiencing and using family violence
- boosted the workforce to include additional roles in the Central Information Sharing Team (IST), CIP and an additional capability development officer in the MARAM team.
Victoria Police
Victoria Police prioritises MARAM alignment by driving best practice and cultural reforms.
Responding to family violence is core business for police. The Centre for Family Violence continues to deliver tailored training to achieve consistent police responses.
For Victoria Police, continual alignment with MARAM is supported through embedded roles, accountabilities, and the Family Violence Report (FVR), which operationalises MARAM for frontline members.
Dedicated Family Violence Liaison Officers embed the principles of MARAM through quality assurance of FVR reports. Divisional Family Violence Training Officers also have a key role in providing interactive education to members.
During 2022–23, Victoria Police progressed several change management activities. These included:
- boosting relationships between police and Aboriginal communities through the Police and Aboriginal Community Protocols Against Family Violence (PACPAFV). In 2022–23, the number of PACPAFV sites increased from 10 to 17
- collaborating with the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing to support the review of the Protecting Children Protocol
- developing educational resources to support training and help members understand the impacts of their response to family violence.
Victoria Police participated in many cross-government committees and advisory groups. This work supports a shared understanding of family violence risk. Through these groups, Victoria Police:
- provided strategic advice on the policing of family violence, sexual assault and child abuse
- monitored the implementation of reforms to provide feedback about the impact of police responses
- produced evidenced-based products to improve the understanding of family violence, sexual offences and child abuse.
Section C: Sectors as lead
Sector Capacity Building Grant recipients and other sector organisations continued to lead reforms within their workforces.
Some highlights during this reporting period include:
- CFECFW delivered six editions of the MARAM updates newsletter to over 560 subscribers
- VHA and NTV ran two workshops to support culture change
- VAADA delivered a quarterly MARAM newsletter for alcohol and other drug (AOD) leaders (managers and CEOs) to provide a single and regular source of truth for the sector
- VASCAL built communities of practice for the ACCO family violence sector, including Q&A panels and information sessions
- Whittlesea Community Connections (WCC) delivered a community of practice multicultural organisations with six meetings attended by 78 participants
- Safe and Equal partnered with NTV to co-facilitate a community of practice to improve understanding of newer MARAMIS concepts.
Case study: peak body collaboration
Since 2020, SASVic, in partnership with Safe and Equal and No to Violence, developed and facilitated a series of webinars to promote a shared understanding of intimate partner sexual violence (IPSV) within family violence across the three sectors.
The partnership enabled cross-sector collaboration and boosted understanding of IPSV among practitioners. This includes ensuring each sector plays a role in keeping perpetrators in view and accountable for their use of sexual violence.
In 2023, SASVic, Safe and Equal and No to Violence hosted a practitioner workshop exploring sexual violence in the context of family violence for women with disabilities. The workshop supported practitioners to develop a comprehensive understanding of how disability intersects with experiences of violence. It also deepened MARAM practice knowledge in assessing and managing risk with victim/survivors and/or perpetrators with a disability.
The workshop was run twice online in May and June. Workshops featured:
- a presentation by SASVic
- a panel discussion with managers, practice leads, and policy experts across the family violence and disability sectors
- an explanation on how a disability lens could be applied to the risk assessment tool.
The workshops also provided opportunities for promoting a shared understanding of how to apply a disability and intersectional lens when completing a risk assessment, and when managing risk. In addition, practitioners across the family violence, sexual violence and perpetrator intervention sector had the opportunity to get to know each other, enabling greater collaboration across agencies.
Summary of progress
Communicating the intent and impact of the reforms is integral to the success of MARAM. Family Safety Victoria, government departments and the sector are continuing to communicate the importance of new and upcoming resources, training and alignment activities to support the implementation of MARAM.
MARAM Annual Survey results indicate that most leaders (more than 90 per cent) reported an understanding of obligations and responsibilities under MARAM and stated that MARAM alignment is a high priority in their organisation.
References
[4] The strategic priorities of the MARAM change management strategy are outlined at Appendix 7.
[5] The eight sector champions are Bendigo Health, Bethany Community Services, Caraniche, Eastern Access Community Health, Early Childhood Australia, Safe Steps, Victorian Aboriginal Health Service and Youth Support and Advocacy Service.
[6] The Department of Education and Training was renamed The Department of Education in January 2023 following machinery of government changes.
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