Annual Report on the implementation of the Family Violence Risk Assessment and Management Framework 2023-24

Aboriginal acknowledgement

The Victorian Government acknowledges Victorian Aboriginal people as the First Peoples and Traditional Owners and Custodians of the land and water on which we rely. We acknowledge and respect that Aboriginal communities are steeped in traditions and customs built on a disciplined social and cultural order that has sustained 60,000 years of existence. We acknowledge the significant disruptions to social and cultural order, and the ongoing hurt caused by colonisation.

We acknowledge the ongoing leadership role of Aboriginal communities in addressing and preventing family violence. We will continue to work in collaboration with First Peoples to eliminate family violence from all communities.

Recognition of victim survivors

The Victorian Government acknowledges victim survivors. We honour their resistance and resilience. We keep at the forefront in our minds all those who have experienced family violence or other forms of abuse, and for whom we undertake this work.

Family violence support

If you have experienced violence or sexual assault and require immediate assistance, call Triple Zero (000) and ask for police. For ongoing assistance, contact 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) to talk to a counsellor from the National Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence hotline. For confidential crisis support, information, and accommodation, contact the Safe Steps 24/7 family violence response line on 1800 015 188. If you are concerned for your safety or that of someone else, please contact the police in your state or territory, or call Triple Zero (000) for emergency assistance.

References

[1] Dhelk Dja: safe our way is an Aboriginal-led agreement to address family violence in Victorian Aboriginal communities.

The Family Violence Multi-Agency Risk Assessment and Management (MARAM) Framework was established in legislation in 2018. It responds to the first two recommendations of Victoria’s Royal Commission into Family Violence (2016).

MARAM ensures services effectively identify, assess and manage family violence risk. It covers all aspects of service delivery. This includes:

• early risk identification
• screening
• assessment and management
• safety planning
• collaborative practice
• recovery.

MARAM aims to:

• create a shared understanding of family violence and perpetrator behaviour
• increase the safety of people experiencing family violence
• keep perpetrators in view and accountable for their actions
• provide guidance to organisations on aligning to MARAM to ensure consistent service delivery
• ensure the family violence response accounts for diverse experiences. This includes:
  • Aboriginal communities
  • diverse communities and identities
  • children
  • young people
  • older people
  • different family and relationship types.

MARAM is being implemented alongside two other reforms. These are the Family Violence Information Sharing Scheme (FVISS) and the Child Information Sharing Scheme (CISS).

Family Safety Victoria leads the implementation of MARAM and the FVISS. The Department of Education leads the implementation of the CISS.

Organisations are prescribed under the regulations as MARAM Framework organisations and/or Information Sharing Entities (ISEs).

Under the Family Violence Protection Act 2008, framework organisations must ensure their policies, procedures, practice guidance and tools align to MARAM.

Section 193(2) of the Family Violence Protection Act 2008 requires that we table an annual report in parliament. This report sets out the progress of MARAM implementation.

This document is the sixth report since the legislation came into effect. It covers implementation activities from 1 July 2023 to 30 June 2024.

Family Safety Victoria (FSV) oversees implementation across the Victorian Government. It does this through governance, reporting and annual surveys. FSV also supports the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing across its various workforce portfolios.

Each department tailors its policies, resources and training to the needs of its workforce. This includes communication about the reforms and responses to barriers the workforces face.

There are 4 strategic priorities for implementing MARAM across government:

• leadership
• collaboration
• capability
• continuous improvement.

This report is structured in 4 sections that represent each of these priorities.

Appendices 1–4 provide more context for the reforms, legislation and information sharing governance structure.

Appendices 5–6 set out the work of each portfolio.

Appendix 7 gives a summary of the results of the 2024 MARAM Annual Survey. This sets out the current state of MARAM alignment across the Victorian Government.

This report highlights FSV’s work in 2023–24 to implement the MARAM reforms.

FSV works within the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing as reform lead. It also works across all portfolios.

Figure 1: Victorian Government highlights for 2023-24

Family Safety Victoria

• From 5-year Legislative and Evidence reviews:
  • 16 recommendations for better legislation
  • 17 recommendations for improved evidence-based practice
• Practice guides for working with children and young people due for release in 2025

Education

• Updated guidance, tools and MARAM training for education workforces
• More than 1,950 schools now use the Respectful Relationships whole-school approach

Information sharing

• Significant increase in information sharing in 2023–24:
  • 8,099 child protection requests, a 51% increase from 2022–23
  • 8,075 Victoria Police requests, 900 more than last year
  • 51,503 court requests
  • 33% increase in Department of Government Services information sharing
• This shows growing confidence in the information sharing system

Risk assessments and safety plans

• The Orange Door completed:
  • 54,261 risk assessments, a 61% increase from 2022–23
  • 24,837 safety plans, a 16% increase from 2022–23

Government services

• In 2023–24:
  • 4,164 victim survivors accessed the Financial Counselling Program
  • 1,016 victim survivors accessed the Tenancy Assistance and Advocacy Program

MARAM annual survey

• 94% of organisational leaders state that MARAM alignment is a priority
• 77% felt their workforce has the support they need to meet MARAM obligations

Multicultural affairs

• 14 contextualised resources created, including MARAM poster packs in 6 languages

Child protection

• New laws ensure courts can access information about family violence risk when making court orders

Courts

• New specialist children’s court opened in Dandenong
• The court has separate entrances and waiting areas, and remote hearing facilities

Strategic priority 1: Demonstrate clear leadership that cultivates trust across service systems and organisations

Any reform that seeks to change the way we work needs clear and consistent leadership.

In 2023–24, departments and sector peaks continued to build on this leadership.

This work deepened Victoria’s shared understanding of family violence. It helped framework organisations to improve their risk assessment practices.

We did this through strong governance, oversight and consistent messaging.

Highlights from 2023-24

• FSV worked with leaders, human resources and policy and project staff across the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing. This work aimed to improve understanding of MARAM responsibilities. FSV supported the department to model practice change across sectors. It developed e-Learns for organisational leaders and policy staff. This provided training on how to apply and support MARAM in day-to-day work.
• Youth justice recruited 2 family violence practice leads. These roles support MARAM implementation and build staff capability to respond to family violence. The positions model a shared understanding of family violence and MARAM responsibilities for staff across the youth justice sector.
• Victoria Police worked with the Family Violence Reform Board on system-level activities, including MARAM. Discussions included developing and implementing a new Victoria Police strategy for family violence, sexual offences and child abuse.

Leadership examples from the annual survey

Framework organisations show strong commitment to implementing MARAM.

In 2023–24, the annual survey found that:

• 94% of organisational leaders rated alignment to MARAM as a medium to high priority
• more than three-quarters (77%) felt their workforce is equipped with the tools, resources, and training needed to meet their obligations.

But there is room for improvement. Only 57% of leaders said they had a detailed understanding of their responsibilities under MARAM.

This shows that we need to do more to support organisational leaders to meet legislative requirements and reform objectives.

As in previous years, survey respondents also pointed to barriers to implementing MARAM in their organisations. These include:

• not enough staff time
• staff workload
• lack of specific guidance for the statewide service sector to address practice challenges.

Plans for 2024-25

Across the government and community sectors, we will work to build leadership for MARAM alignment.

For example, Ambulance Victoria plans to employ a dedicated family violence clinical governance officer. This role will integrate MARAM into Ambulance Victoria’s practices and address identified gaps in workforce knowledge.

Ambulance Victoria will also develop a dashboard to monitor family violence presentations.

In addition, the Department of Justice and Community Safety’s Victim Services, Support, and Reform portfolio plans to:

• further develop the family violence practice manual for its Victim Services area. This will ensure consistent support for victim survivors
• implement training initiatives for the Victims of Crime Helpline to improve capability in identifying the predominant aggressor in family violence cases.

Strategic priority 2: Facilitate consistent and collaborative practice

Framework organisations work together to keep victim survivors safe and perpetrators in view. This includes through sharing information.

In 2023–24, departments and sector peaks supported consistent and collaborative family violence responses.

As a result, framework organisations made real progress in working together effectively.

This is shown by:

• a significant increase in information sharing requests in 2023–24. This reflects growing workforce confidence in prioritising victim survivor safety over confidentiality
• more than 133,698 risk assessments conducted across the system using MARAM tools.

Highlights from 2023-24

• The Central Information Point introduced a brief report. This report contains a subset of critical risk information for immediate decision making. It is designed for use within 24 hours.
• The Orange Door worked closely with Victoria Police to determine how to share information about predominant aggressor identification and risk assessment.
• CAV’s Tenancy Advice and Advocacy Program worked with property managers to help victim survivors access rental properties and maintain tenancies. Child and Family Services Inc. in Ballarat delivers this program.

The MARAM Child and Young Person practice guides

We are developing practice guides that focus on children and young people.

These will be released in 2025.

The guides support consistent and collaborative practice.

Figure 2 shows some of the ways portfolios will use the new guides.

Collaboration examples from the annual survey

The annual survey found 73% of organisational leaders agree their organisation applies consistent and collaborative practice.

This includes using MARAM tools to identify, assess and manage family violence.

Information sharing

The survey also showed increased numbers of requests for information under the Information Sharing Schemes in 2023–24. Figure 3 provides some examples.

This demonstrates that our workforces are more confident with using the schemes to support consistent and collaborative practice.

The annual survey shows that:

• frontline workers are confident in their understanding of the FVISS (86% of respondents) and CISS (85%)
• frontline workers shared information regularly (more than once a week) using the FVISS (27%) and the CISS (27%)
• workers shared information often (once a week to once a month) using the FVISS (31%) and the CISS (34%)
• organisational leaders believe their organisation shares information safely (84%). They understand how the information sharing schemes work (76%).

Risk assessments and safety plans

Similarly, use of MARAM risk assessments continues to grow.

Figure 4 shows an increase in 2023–24 in the number of risk assessments and safety plans undertaken by The Orange Door. (It also includes some specialist family violence services outside The Orange Door.)

Plans for 2024-25

The Health portfolio will pilot a ‘train the trainer’ program to help public hospitals and integrated health services to use the information sharing schemes.

It will also help health services and hospitals across Victoria to access Adults Using Family Violence resources.

The courts will also implement an Adults Using Family Violence tool. They will tailor this for their workforce and update the client management database.

The Housing portfolio will publish updated Homelessness services guidelines and conditions of funding. These guidelines incorporate vital information to help homelessness services align to MARAM.

The Prevention of Family Violence portfolio will release Child and Young Person practice guides in 2025. These resources will support departments and organisations to deliver consistent practice. They also address the recommendations of the MARAM 5-year Evidence review.

Strategic priority 3: Build workforce and staff capability

MARAM’s long-term success depends on building workforce capability.

This means training practitioners in their MARAM and information sharing responsibilities.

In 2023–24, we prioritised training and other capability-building activities across government.

Figure 6 provides a summary of completed training.

Highlights from 2023-24

• FSV developed a new, non-accredited Adults Using Family Violence training program and practice guides. FSV piloted these with practitioners in the health, justice, police, child protection and mental health workforces. Aboriginal Community-Controlled Organisations (ACCOs) helped to ensure the program’s cultural safety. Delivery of the training program commenced in November 2023.
• The Education portfolio delivered Respectful Relationships professional learning to 519 early childhood educators. In total, 5,043 educators have attended the professional learning since it began in 2018. More than 1,950 government, Catholic and independent schools in Victoria use the Respectful Relationships whole-school approach.
• In Housing, Homes Victoria worked with the Council to Homeless Persons (CHP) to deliver information sessions and training. These sessions aimed to build the workforce’s understanding of MARAM. CHP convened a group of MARAM leaders across the homelessness sector. The group met 6 times to provide feedback about the MARAM tools.
• The Housing portfolio also developed tailored Adults Using Family Violence identification and intermediate training for Forensic Disability Services Staff. This workforce supports people with cognitive disability who are involved in the criminal justice system. Public housing staff also received targeted MARAM Adults Using Family Violence identification training.
• The Health portfolio promoted eLearn’s for elder abuse and financial abuse for organisations in the health sector.

• The Youth justice sector provided MARAM intermediate victim survivor training for all custody staff (53) and 170 community-based staff. Of these, 87% rated the quality of the training as very high or high. Participants (94%) agreed or strongly agreed that they were more confident in their ability to engage effectively with those accessing services.

  Project spotlight: Victoria Police training Immersive simulation training gives recruits the confidence to put their theoretical knowledge of family violence response into practice. The training uses actors in 3 scenarios. This includes a scenario where recruits respond to and manage risk factors relevant to the accurate identification of the predominant aggressor. This supports recruits to identify family violence risk factors. It gives them the chance to assess and manage risk. It also allows them to practise trauma-aware approaches to support victim survivors. In 2023–24, 994 recruits completed the immersive, simulated learning program.

  Case study: MARAM training in the health sector A specialist family violence practitioner was working with a client who is an adult using family violence. The client appeared to present a very serious risk. They had several intervention orders against them and no access to their children. The practitioner knew this information. However, they had developed a rapport with the client. Over time, they started to believe the client’s version of events that they had not been violent. After attending the full-day MARAM training on resisting collusion and motivating change, the practitioner realised they had been colluding with this client. The term ‘collusion’ refers to ways that an individual, agency or system might reinforce, excuse, minimise or deny a perpetrator’s violence or the extent of that violence. Using tools from the training, the practitioner changed the way they engaged with the client. They used a balanced approach to support the client’s self-reflection about the impacts of their behaviour. The practitioner now notices the invitations for collusion. They feel more confident in how to respond. They have started collaborating and sharing information with other services. This helps to keep the client using violence in view and accountable. It also supports the victim survivor’s safety.

The MARAM Adults Using Family Violence training package

The Adults Using Family Violence training package commenced in November 2023.

It complements the Adults Using Family Violence practice guides released in February 2022.

The above case study demonstrates the importance of training to support practitioners working with adults using family violence.

Figure 5 shows how some portfolios are rolling out the tools.

Capability examples from the annual survey

The survey showed that 78% of respondents who were professional, and frontline staff had undertaken training on various MARAM topics in 2023–24.

Of these, 76% rated the training highly useful or somewhat useful.

For organisational leaders or executives, 95% indicated that they or staff in their organisation completed training in 2023–24.

Of these, 83% rated the training highly useful or somewhat useful. Appendix 7 provides more detail.

Plans for 2024-25

Child protection will make MARAM training mandatory in all staff professional development plans in 2024–25.

In the Education portfolio, the department will deliver training on the workforce’s MARAM responsibilities. It will also update the e-Learns on information sharing and family violence reform. This includes developing a refresher course.

The courts will tailor MARAM Adults Using Family Violence training to ensure it is appropriate for court operations. This will also assist practitioners to undertake brief interventions with respondents in family violence intervention order matters.

The Prevention of Family Violence portfolio will:

• roll out the MARAM Child and Young Person practice guides to all The Orange Door sites. Induction training will include these new guides
• update minimum standards for men’s behaviour change programs. This includes men’s referral services.

Strategic priority 4: Recognition of good practice and commitment to continuous improvement

A key element of any reform is reinforcing the change that it brings.

MARAM is a complex reform that is continuously improving.

We regularly release new practice guidance.

Highlights from 2023-24

• The Housing portfolio introduced a community of practice for the specialist homelessness sector. This initiative shares and integrates MARAM best practice into homelessness service delivery.
• The MARAM Annual Survey received 1,040 responses this reporting year, including from frontline workers.
• In the Mental Health portfolio, communities of practice accelerated learning and information sharing for frontline workers. This supports MARAM use in mental health and alcohol and other drugs services.
• Victoria Police introduced the new streamlined intervention order (SIVO) application. SIVO allows police members secure access to, locate, track and record the service of all intervention orders from their handheld technology devices. This application supports Victoria Police to manage and monitor intervention order service across the state.

Findings from the MARAM Legislative and Evidence reviews

Continuous improvement is fundamental to MARAM. The Family Violence Protection Act 2008 requires:

• a one-off 5-year review of the legislation supporting MARAM and information sharing
• recurring 5-year reviews of the evidence base supporting MARAM.

These reviews were completed this year and tabled in Parliament.

Legislative review

The Family Violence Reform Implementation Monitor completed the Legislative review. They found that the reforms had positively affected a shared understanding of family violence. They also found there had been a cultural shift from safeguarding perpetrator privacy towards promoting accountability and victim survivor safety.

The review made recommendations that:

• encourage timely information sharing
• promote transparency in relation to the Central Information Point
• support victim survivor agency
• provide clear and targeted guidance for practitioners
• introduce clearer requirements, timelines and accountability for MARAM alignment.

Evidence review

The Evidence review found MARAM remains consistent with best practice in family violence risk assessment and management. Allen and Clarke Consulting completed the review.

The review made recommendations regarding:

• how MARAM supports risk assessment with Aboriginal and diverse communities
• the experience of children and young people
• changing presentations of risk, including substance abuse, coercion and technology facilitated abuse
• better use of the MARAM practice guides so assessment tools are not applied in a ‘tick box’ manner.

The Victorian Government plans to implement improvements based on the reviews starting in 2024–25. This work supports continuous improvement.

Continuous improvement examples from the annual survey

The annual survey found that 92% of organisational leaders or executives had supported actions to align their organisation to MARAM in 2023–24.

Actions included:

• identifying and supporting relevant professionals to attend MARAM training or other service-specific training (76%)
• reading the MARAM Framework and other supporting materials (73%)
• considering the impact of MARAM on their organisation’s day-to-day operations (68%)
• updating and creating new policies, procedures and practice guidance to align with MARAM (68%)
• implementing or updating a family violence referral protocol, agreement or guideline to align with MARAM (62%).

Plans for 2024-25

The Multicultural Affairs portfolio will, where possible, update data collection to measure multicultural communities’ access to family violence services. This will help us understand barriers to seeking support.

In the Prevention of Family Violence portfolio, FSV will update the 5 core MARAM non-accredited training packages. The new training will reflect updated family violence data and research, consultation feedback and findings from the Evidence review. It will include training on:

• collaborative practice
• leading alignment
• identification of family violence risk
• intermediate risk assessment
• comprehensive risk assessment.

Victoria Police will release a new strategy for police responses to family violence. The new strategy will align with MARAM. It will include sexual offences and child abuse.

The new strategy will replace Policing harm, uphold the right: strategy for family violence, sexual offences and child abuse 2018–2023. It will provide a roadmap for 2024–2029. Victoria Police will review the strategy each year to measure its effectiveness.

The legislative structure around MARAM is shown in Figure 7.

Family Violence Protection Act 2008

The Family Violence Multi-Agency Risk Assessment and Management Framework (MARAM) reporting process, legislated in the Act, has 2 stages:

1. Under s. 192 of the Act, portfolio ministers prepare an annual report for the Minister for the Prevention of Family Violence on the prescribed matters relating to the implementation and operation of MARAM by 30 September (MARAM portfolio reports).
2. Under s. 193 of the Act, the Minister for the Prevention of Family Violence must prepare a consolidated annual report of the prescribed matters to be tabled within 6 sitting dates after 1 January, in the financial year immediately following the financial year to which the report relates (MARAM consolidated report).

Portfolio reports are not tabled but are subject to Freedom of Information requests.

Family Violence Protection (Information Sharing and Risk Management) Regulations 2018

The prescribed matters are:

1. actions taken by a public entity or a public service body to support framework organisations and section 191 agencies, in relation to the implementation and operation of the approved framework
2. a summary of the progress of implementation of the approved framework by framework organisations and section 191 agencies
3. proposed future actions to be undertaken by public entities or public service bodies, to support ongoing implementation and operation by framework organisations and s. 191 agencies with the approved framework.

Strategic Priority 1: Demonstrate clear leadership that cultivates trust across service systems and organisations

The Victorian Government, departments and sector peak bodies will provide clear and consistent leadership that encourages a shared understanding of risk, respects sector expertise and cultivates trust across organisations.

Strategic Priority 2: Facilitate consistent and collaborative practice

The Victorian Government, departments and sector peak bodies ensure service systems have operational procedures that enable the timely identification of risk, information sharing, and consistent and collaborative practice.

Strategic Priority 3: Build workforce and staff capability

The Victorian Government, departments and sector peak bodies ensure staff across sectors will be supported to build their capacity, skills and practice knowledge to identify and manage risks, and share information effectively, in line with their roles and expertise.

Strategic Priority 4: Recognition of good practice and commitment to continuous improvement

The Victorian Government, departments and sector peak bodies ensure mechanisms for sharing lessons learned across sectors are in place to reinforce good practice.

Organisations prescribed under MARAM, FVISS, and CISS

CISS, FVISS and MARAM – all reforms

• Alcohol and other drugs services
• Ambulance Victoria (including contracted services)
• Care services (formerly out-of-home care services)
• Child protection
• Children’s Court
• Community health services
• Community housing organisations, including Tenancy Plus Programs
• Community-managed mental health services
• Complex Needs Coordinators (MACNI)
• Denominational hospitals
• Department of Education, to the extent it delivers Child Health and Wellbeing Services
• Designated Mental Health Services
• Doctors in schools
• Family Records and Intercountry Services
• Forensic Disability
• Government, Catholic and independent schools
• Homelessness services (providing access point, outreach, or accommodation services)
• Homelessness support providers (other than those already prescribed under phase 1)
• Justice Health
• Justice Health’s funded or contracted services for young people
• Kindergartens
• Long day care
• Magistrates’ Court
• Maternal and Child Health Services
• Multi-agency Panels to Prevent youth Offending
• Multicultural and settlement support services
• Out-of-school-hours care
• Perpetrator interventions, including trials under the Family Violence Perpetrator Intervention grants
• Public health services
• Public hospitals
• Public housing
• Publicly funded early parenting centres
• Publicly funded metropolitan, regional and rural health services
• Refugee Minor Program
• Registered community-based child and family services (including Child FIRST)
• Relevant non-government school system bodies
• Risk Assessment and Management Panels
• Sexual assault support services
• Sexually abusive behaviour treatment services
• Specialist family violence services (including family violence counselling and therapeutic programs)
• State-funded aged care services
• Student disengagement and wellbeing services and programs funded by the Department of Education
• Supported playgroups
• The Orange Door (Support and Safety Hubs)
• Victims Assistance Program services
• Victims of Crime Helpline
• Victoria Police
• Youth Justice
• Youth Justice funded community support services or programs
• Youth Parole Board (Secretariat)

FVISS and/or MARAM only (not CISS)

• Adult Parole Board
• Corrections and Justice Services-funded or contracted rehabilitation and reintegration services or programs, prisoner services or programs, and clinical services or programs for offender rehabilitation
• Corrections Victoria, Community Correctional Services and privately operated prisons
• Court-ordered family violence counselling
• Dispute Settlement Centre of Victoria
• Family Violence Restorative Justice Service
• Justice Health’s funded or contracted services for adults
• Parentline (MARAM only)
• State-funded Financial Counselling Program
• State-funded Tenancy Assistance and Advocacy Program

CISS or FVISS only

• Commission for Children and Young People
• Disability Services Commissioner
• General practitioners
• General practice nurses
• Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority
• Victorian Institute of Teaching
• Victorian Registration and Qualifications Authority

CISS only

• Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages

This table sets out the departments, ministers, portfolios and program areas that are referenced in this report.

See Appendix 6 for more detailed portfolio summaries.

Appendix 5: Ministers, portfolios, and responsibilities for the 2023–24 reporting period.

Education and Children portfolios

The Department of Education continued to run training via webinars, face-to-face workshops and e-Learns.

This training supported education workforces prescribed under phase 2 of CISS, FVISS and MARAM. It aimed to build capability in the implementation and use of the reforms.

The human resources eLearning module for managers and principals had 97 new completions in 2023–24. This brought the total number of completions of the module to 797 since it commenced in 2019. The module is for corporate managers, principals and school leaders who support staff experiencing family violence.

The department’s Respectful Relationships regional workforce continued to deliver training to Respectful Relationships school staff. This training:

• promoted a shared understanding of family violence
• focused on identifying and responding to disclosures of family violence.

Early childhood educators also received Respectful Relationships professional learning. This learning:

• promoted respectful relationships within the teaching approach
• strengthened educators’ capabilities to respond to disclosures of family violence
• covered how to make referrals to family violence response services.

The department engaged the Centre for Excellence in Child and Family Welfare to develop and deliver training for education workforces. This training helped participants understand screening, safety planning and making referrals and reports.

From October 2024, MARAM-nominated staff will receive training on updated guidance and tools. MARAM-nominated staff include staff that have a role that involves wellbeing. This includes wellbeing coordinators and leadership staff.

Child Protection portfolio

Child protection established a family violence community of practice in 2023. This is led by the Office of Professional Practice. It is for child protection practitioners and other staff who support family violence practice.

Information from the community of practice is provided via the Family Violence tile of the Child Protection Learning Hub.

Objectives of the community of practice include:

• facilitating a statewide dialogue about family violence practice
• providing safe and supportive learning environments for family violence practice
• embedding contemporary family violence practice frameworks
• sharing knowledge and resources to increase understanding of family violence
• supporting family violence practice leaders to embed and sustain practice change.

Hurstbridge Farm introduced MARAM eLearning training modules. These modules focus on practice development and continuous improvement.

Staff complete the modules on shift time during their induction. This ensures all staff have foundational knowledge of MARAM.

Secure Care Services will continue to conduct 6-monthly audits of MARAM eLearning module completion rates. This includes following up with staff to support 100% completion. This will be reported in 2024–25.

Forensic Disability portfolio

MARAM learning and development is part of the suite of learning for Forensic Disability Services.

Staff have completed both the MARAM victim-survivor and the MARAM Adults Using Family Violence training.

The training was either the identification level or intermediate level, depending on staff roles.

Forensic Disability Clinical Services recruited a senior psychologist. Among other duties, this role will lead feedback and debriefing with the clinical team.

Public Housing and Complex Needs Coordination portfolios

MARAM learning and development is part of the suite of learning for public housing and complex needs coordinators.

Staff have completed both the MARAM victim-survivor and the MARAM Adults Using Family Violence training at the identification level.

Housing portfolio

Homes Victoria funds and works with Council to Homeless Persons (CHP) to deliver information sessions and training. This aims to build the workforce’s understanding of MARAM in their role.

In 2023–24, CHP created a community of practice to integrate best practice in MARAM alignment. The group included MARAM leaders from across the Victorian specialist homelessness sector. It has met 6 times since October 2023.

During the year, the community of practice:

• provided feedback to FSV about the user experience of the MARAM tools in the Specialist Homelessness Information Platform
• promoted MARAM and information sharing of tools and resources
• developed strategies to improve The Orange Door and referral pathways.

Homes Victoria worked with framework organisations to implement MARAM. It supported them to apply the findings from program evaluations to revise policies, guidelines and practice. This work included the Tenancy Support Program and Supporting Safe and Productive Communities initiatives.

The scope involved:

• collaborating with stakeholders to shape new guidance documents or revise existing ones
• ensuring alignment with best practice
• meeting the evolving needs of victim survivors.

These efforts will be integrated with the Second rolling action plan 2023–2026 under Building from strength: 10-year family violence industry plan for family violence prevention and response.

Consumer Affairs Victoria portfolio

In 2023–24, community programs funded by Consumer Affairs Victoria enhanced consistent and collaborative practice.

This included work to create links with real estate agents to support victim survivors’ access to rental properties or maintain tenancies. This boosted victim survivors’ confidence to seek support from the Tenancy Assistance and Advocacy Program (TAAP).

Programs also engaged in working groups and partnerships. These covered the intersection of family violence, financial abuse and legal issues delivered by Financial Counselling Programs. They included laws relating to:

• family
• property
• tax
• small business
• insurance.

These groups also shared family violence case studies to advocate for change to systems that perpetrators use to commit financial abuse. This includes Australian Taxation Office and Australian Securities and Investments Commission systems.

Dispute Settlement Centre of Victoria engages with the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) and the Magistrates’ Court. It creates clear pathways and processes to support victim survivors. It also ensures that victim survivors can receive culturally appropriate assistance.

Following the 5-year MARAM review, Consumer Affairs Victoria will focus on:

• supporting prescribed organisations with additional training, tools and resources
• consultation and practice guidance tailored to organisations’ roles and functions
• enhance information sharing and MARAM capability.

Consumer Affairs Victoria will also develop a roadmap for workforces who frequently interact with vulnerable consumers. This will boost family violence best practice.

Health portfolio

Ambulance Victoria

During 2023–24, Ambulance Victoria provided tailored and mandatory MARAM training for staff.

The organisation also progressed work to implement MARAM. This included:

• initial mapping and audit of the Adults Using Family Violence framework and tool
• review of clinical governance structures and clinical referral pathways to support secondary triage
• options for integrating training.

Ambulance Victoria regularly held meetings to:

• review progress with implementation
• identify challenges and risks
• discuss mitigation strategies.

Ambulance Victoria continued to strengthen its relationship with Family Safety Victoria, Victoria Police and family violence agencies.

In 2024–25 Ambulance Victoria plans to:

• employ dedicated family violence clinical governance officers to integrate MARAM into Ambulance Victoria’s practices
• address gaps in workforce knowledge and training
• focus on adults using family violence while aligning with current reform directions.

Health

The Department of Health’s role in leading MARAM implementation for health workforces transferred to Safer Care Victoria in 2023–24.

2023–24 also saw the launch of the new Strengthening Hospitals Responses to Family Violence (SHRFV) model.

This model provides dedicated project funding for 8 public hospitals and health services. These organisations will lead work to embed the Adults Using Family Violence practice guides.

Practice leads worked alongside SHRFV statewide leads to support hospitals to understand, prepare for and implement Adults Using Family Violence practice.

This included 14 regional workshops for 146 attendees from 56 hospitals.

In 2024–2025, practice leads will build on this work to extend the reach and availability of Adults Using Family Violence resources to hospitals.

St Vincent’s Hospital developed the Family Violence Risk Identification Form (FVRIF). This clinical and data collection tool is aligned with both MARAM and the Family Violence Data Collection Framework.

It enables clinicians to identify and report MARAM-based risk factors from patients and families experiencing or using family violence.

The data can be represented visually and is readily available to the executive team.

There is a daily report and review of all FVRIFs completed.

Education about FVRIFs is included in staff orientation and mandatory training packages.

The MARAM FVRIF data is also collated and presented at a monthly meeting with the Family Violence Coordination and Response Group (FVCRG). This group comprises key stakeholders and managers.

This meeting focuses on risk management and follow-up. It proactively identifies emerging themes and educational needs.

The reporting has enhanced services through:

• more targeted training
• intervention improvement
• improved staff wellbeing and referrals
• improved information sharing.

The department also promoted the MARAM identification-level Family Violence Against Older People (Elder Abuse) eLearn course and a MARAM workshop on identifying and responding to financial abuse.

Mental Health portfolio

Victoria’s mental health and wellbeing system is undertaking major reform as a result of the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System.

Implementing family violence reform at the same time is challenging. However, the mental health workforce is committed to improving its response to family violence.

Feedback about MARAM training for health workforces is consistently positive. This is particularly the case for new practitioners or those wanting to improve their MARAM knowledge and skills.

The Centre for Mental Health Learning also had positive feedback about its work in 2023–24. In 2024–25, it will schedule additional sessions of its webinar and training resources for working with men who use family violence. This includes content on resisting collusion and motivating change.

A new 2-hour MARAM intermediate training program for mental health and wellbeing clinicians will continue during 2024-25.

Corrections and Justice Services portfolio

In 2023–24, the team:

• ensured all activities for the reform implementation across the corrections system adhered to MARAM
• created a centralised MARAM reform focus point
• provided input and change management expertise to implement MARAM within the corrections system
• monitored progress on MARAM and FVISS activities while managing emerging risks and issues.

Corrections Victoria undertook a pilot at a men’s medium security prison to test the MARAM implementation model and collect data. The pilot was a significant milestone in informing next steps for MARAM alignment in prisons.

Community Correctional Services went live with their revised MARAM tools and practice guidance in April 2024. This work will strengthen risk identification and management.

There are several family violence services available across the corrections system. This includes services for people using family violence and victim survivors who are either in prison or subject to the supervision of Community Correctional Services.

Programs for priority cohorts include:

• victim survivor programs
• perpetrator programs
• parenting and healthy relationships programs.

Corrections and Justice Services E*Justice Family Violence Screen project

The new screen will be a single source of all family violence and MARAM information for staff. Staff will also be able to collect and report on family violence data for the corrections system.

The MARAM implementation team engaged with stakeholders across Corrections and Justice Services.

The team also worked closely with their technology solutions partner. This included completing the design, function, development and testing of the solution. It also included commencing development of the eLearn.

Corrections and Justice Services will maintain good practice and continuous improvement by:

• progressing the E*Justice project to ensure identification of persons using family violence and victim survivors across the system
• releasing the E*Justice eLearn to support implementation of the new screen
• planning to implement the new E*Justice screen in phases with Community Correctional Services to go-live in early 2025 and Corrections Victoria to go-live in the future, in-order-to coincide with Corrections Victoria MARAM implementation.
• updating practice guidance to accommodate the introduction of the new E*Justice screen.

Victims portfolio

Victims Assistance Program (VAP) agencies have strong relationships with internal and external stakeholders. These relationships support information sharing and collaboration when working with victims of family violence. They also support co-case management approaches.

VAP agencies meet regularly with stakeholders and networks. This includes with The Orange Door workforce. These meetings aim to boost effective referral pathways, information sharing, secondary consultations and best practice.

VAP agency leadership staff (program managers and team leaders) attend quarterly VAP Leadership Network meetings. These forums discuss MARAM and family violence practice.

The VAP Family Violence Practice Lead (FVPL) Network allows Helpline and VAP FVPLs to discuss practice dilemmas. This supports consistent practice across the state.

The Department of Justice and Community Safety’s Victims Services Support and Reform will continue to provide comprehensive MARAM training to upskill existing staff. The Family violence practice manual will further support misidentification assessments by the Victims of Crime Helpline. This keeps perpetrators in view and accountable.

The Victims of Crime Helpline will also enhance collaborative practices by establishing pathways to redirect L17s to The Orange Door for child wellbeing responses. Manual information sharing pathways will ensure these referrals receive a holistic response from The Orange Door and child protection services.

This initiative aims to improve coordination and ensure comprehensive support for vulnerable young individuals affected by family violence.

Family violence practice leads working with the Victims of Crime Helpline complete assessments of L17 referrals. These assessments identify predominant aggressors. They are shared with The Orange Door and Victoria Police.

In 2023–24, the Helpline received 19,439 L17s. Practice leads identified that in 26.5% of these cases, the identified male affected family member was the person using violence.

Youth Justice portfolio

Youth justice will commence a project to analyse MARAM alignment and family violence practice across community, custody and central youth justice.

This project will identify gaps and opportunities to strengthen MARAM alignment.

Youth justice will then develop tailored resources and training. It will also update practice guidelines if required.

This analysis will be completed via self-assessments and interviews with youth justice representatives across each of the workforces.

Multicultural Affairs portfolio

FSV funds a consortium of social services organisations. This includes:

• Whittlesea Community Connections (WCC)
• AMES Australia
• Jewish Care.

The consortium supports support framework organisations in the multicultural and settlement sectors to align to the MARAM Framework.

This included conducting a survey of framework organisations.

The survey identified the benefits and challenges associated with MARAM alignment. It also captured each organisation’s knowledge and application of MARAM responsibilities.

As part of phase 2 alignment, FSV reviewed all existing funding arrangements within the Multicultural Affairs portfolio. This identified organisations for MARAM alignment.

FSV also reviewed the portfolio’s criteria for prescription of services and organisations.

The review will provide greater clarity on which organisations are required to prescribe. It will enhance framework organisations’ understanding of their responsibilities.

Any new funding and programs within scope will include MARAM requirements in program guidelines and funding agreements.

In 2024–25, DPC’s Multicultural Affairs portfolio will participate in the MARAM and Information Sharing Working Group.

Prevention of Family Violence portfolio

Plans for 2024–25 include:

• establishing a community of practice for priority workforces. This will foster learning, encourage collaboration and promote new ways to embed MARAM and information sharing
• establishing regular meetings with the Centre for Workforce Excellence. This will involve aligning training approaches and developing materials for accredited and non-accredited MARAM training. Training will include Victorian Government workforces and funded agencies
• redeveloping the original 5 core MARAM training packages. This work will reflect updated family violence data and research, consultation feedback and findings from the MARAM 5-year Evidence review
• continuing to implement recommendations from the 5-year Evidence review and Legislative review. Implementation plans will guide FSV’s work on recommendations over the coming years.

Findings from Evidence and Legislative reviews demonstrate that:

• MARAM is valuable and useful across sectors
• MARAM supports a shared understanding of family violence and improved system collaboration
• Information sharing is an essential enabler to MARAM. There have been no adverse impacts identified since the commencement of the reform.

FSV will further embed MARAM across framework organisations. This will improve practice and system responses to adults using family violence. It will also support organisations to keep adult and child victim survivors safe.

All The Orange Door sites include service system navigators who develop referral pathways to improve client outcomes.

On-site practice leaders also provide essential skills and support. This ensures the workforce can work safely with victim survivors of all ages. It also ensures that adults using family violence are engaged, connected and responsible for stopping their violence.

Practice leaders help to maintain culturally safe engagement with the Aboriginal community.

Courts portfolio

This year, the Magistrates’ Court finished implementing MARAM victim survivor tools and practice guidance across court operations, specialist courts and programs.

Requests for information under the FVISS and the CISS continue to increase, with a monthly average of around 4,200 requests.

The courts are developing the Courts Information Sharing Portal (CIS Portal). This secure, online tool will enable courts to share information under the FVISS and CISS faster and more efficiently. The CIS Portal will streamline administrative processes to help manage the high volume of requests.

Representatives from specialist venues of the Children’s Court of Victoria took part in surveys facilitated by Swinburne University and Safe and Equal. The survey findings will inform the development of risk identification and assessment tools as part of the MARAM Child and Young Person Practice Guides.

In 2024–25, the courts will:

• implement the Adults Using Family Violence practice guides
• maintain staff capability and ensure new court staff, including trainee court registrars, receive MARAM training
• update the client management database to include the MARAM Adults Using Family Violence tool.

Victoria Police portfolio

Highlights from 2023–24 include:

• The SIVO application (discussed in section 4) also features a compliance function. This enables supervisors to access real-time information about all applications and intervention orders requiring service. This is particularly crucial for pending court dates or intervention orders that have not yet been served.
• Victoria Police expanded the pool of employees who complete the MARAM Annual Survey to include:
  • Family Violence Training Officers
  • Interagency Information Sharing Service team members
  • the Police Academy
  • the Centre for Family Violence
  • other frontline specialist members.
• The MARAM and Workforce Directors Group meets quarterly to provide strategic advice on the implementation of the MARAM Framework. This year, Victoria Police contributed to the development of MARAM practice guides and tools related to children and young people and adults using family violence. The group also engaged with partners to implement recommendations of the Family Violence Reform Implementation Monitor relating to the accurate identification of the predominant aggressor.
• An internal pilot program sought to examine police risk assessment decision making. This includes identifying opportunities for practice changes. It is part of broader work to strengthen the accurate identification of the predominant aggressor. A new practice guide for identifying the predominant aggressor is being developed for use in 2024–25.

In the 2023–24 reporting period, we made several updates to the MARAM Annual Survey.

These included:

• changing the name from the MARAM Annual Survey to the Family Violence Risk Assessment and Management Survey
• expanding the survey to include frontline workers. Previous years’ surveys only included organisational leaders, executives or those with responsibility for setting policies, procedures or practice guidance within their organisation
• creating the survey in-house, saving outsourcing costs, and providing greater flexibility on survey design, editing and access to the data.

Across sectors

The survey received 1,040 responses. The response rate in 2023–24 was 188% higher than the previous year. This is mostly due to the inclusion of professional and frontline staff, and greater engagement from the human services, health, justice and government services sectors.

Demographics

Most respondents were employed in human services (42.4%) and health (41.7%). They come from large (65%) or medium (30%) organisations that provide regional, metropolitan and statewide services.

Across workforces

Respondents included:

• 804 (77%) professional or frontline staff who identify, assess or manage family violence risk in their day-to-day work
• 158 (15%) leaders or executives who set organisational policies, procedures, practice guidance and tools for assessing family violence risk
• 78 (7.5%) who are not leaders or executives, but whose role involves developing organisational policies, procedures, practice or program guidance and tools relevant to family violence risk.

Figure 9 outlines the responses received to the survey by sector. Across framework organisations, commitment to MARAM is strong.

Figure 10 shows that 94% of organisational leaders rated alignment to MARAM as a high or medium priority.

Figure 11 shows that more than three-quarters (77 per cent) felt their workforce is equipped with the tools, resources and training needed to meet their obligations under MARAM.

Figure 12 shows that 73% of organisational leaders agree their organisation applies consistent and collaborative practice using MARAM tools to identify, assess and manage family violence.

Figure 13 shows there is room for improvement. Only 57% of surveyed leaders said they had a detailed understanding of their responsibilities under MARAM. This was a decrease of 17% from 2023 results.

Figure 14 focuses on training completed by professional and frontline staff. It shows that 78% of professional and frontline staff had undertaken training on MARAM topics in 2023–24.

Of these respondents, 76% rated the trainings as highly useful or somewhat useful.

Figure 15 focuses on training completed by organisational leaders or executives. It shows that 95% of leaders or executives (or staff in their organisation) completed training in 2023–24.

Of these respondents, 83% rated the training as highly useful or somewhat useful.

Figure 1: Victorian Government highlights for 2023-24

Family Safety Victoria

• From 5-year Legislative and Evidence reviews:
  • 16 recommendations for better legislation
  • 17 recommendations for improved evidence-based practice
• Practice guides for working with children and young people due for release in 2025

Education

• Updated guidance, tools and MARAM training for education workforces
• More than 1,950 schools now use the Respectful Relationships whole-school approach

Information sharing

• Significant increase in information sharing in 2023–24:
  • 8,099 child protection requests, a 51% increase from 2022–23
  • 8,075 Victoria Police requests, 900 more than last year
  • 51,503 court requests
  • 33% increase in Department of Government Services information sharing
• This shows growing confidence in the information sharing system

Risk assessments and safety plans

• The Orange Door completed:
  • 54,261 risk assessments, a 61% increase from 2022–23
  • 24,837 safety plans, a 16% increase from 2022–23

Government services

• In 2023–24:
  • 4,164 victim survivors accessed the Financial Counselling Program
  • 1,016 victim survivors accessed the Tenancy Assistance and Advocacy Program

MARAM annual survey

• 94% of organisational leaders state that MARAM alignment is a priority
• 77% felt their workforce has the support they need to meet MARAM obligations

Multicultural affairs

• 14 contextualised resources created, including MARAM poster packs in 6 languages

Child protection

• New laws ensure courts can access information about family violence risk when making court orders

Courts

• New specialist children’s court opened in Dandenong
• The court has separate entrances and waiting areas, and remote hearing facilities

Figure 2: Preparation for the Child and Young Person practice guides

Consumer affairs

• Working with peak bodies, Dispute Settlement Centre of Victoria and funded agencies
• Identifying gaps in organisational procedures

Mental health

• Working with services that work with children, including:
  • paediatric social workers
  • general practitioners
  • nurses
  • early parenting centres

Child protection

• Implementing guidance and tools in 2025
• Updating program policies, procedures, guidelines and training

Victoria Police

• Reviewing the guides
• Will consider developing other guidance material
• Ensuring culturally strong practice

Victim services

The Family Violence Restorative Justice Service is reviewing policies to incorporate the new guidance and tools

Figure 3: Information sharing among departments

Corrections and justice services

• 1,700 requests on average processed by the FVISS team each month

Victim services

• 4,821 victims of crime helpline requests (up from 303 in 2020–21)

Courts

• 4,200 requests on average each month
• 51,503 requests in 2023–24

Government services

• 33% increase in Department of Government Services information sharing in 2023–24

Victoria Police

• 8,075 Victoria Police requests, 900+ more than last year

Child protection

• 8,099 requests, up 51% since 2022–23
• Most frequent requests came from:
  • Victoria Police
  • specialist family violence services
  • hospitals

Figure 4: MARAM risk assessments and safety plans

Risk assessment and safety plans

• 384,000 completed online since 2018, with 79,098 completed in 2023–24
• 54,600 completed using the Specialist Homelessness Information Platform in 2023–24
• 80,271 safety plans completed online from April 2018 to June 2024
• 54,261 risk assessments completed by The Orange Door using online tools, a 61% increase from 2022–23

Figure 5: Using the Adults Using Family Violence practice guides and training package

MARAM annual survey

• 45% of organisational leaders have used the MARAM Adults Using Family Violence (AUFV) practice guides
• 21% aware of the resources but have not used them

Child protection

• Tailored AUFV identification and intermediate training for child protection, Hurstbridge Farm and secure services staff

Consumer affairs

• Tailored AUFV training for Dispute Settlement Centre of Victoria staff, financial counsellors, tenancy advocates and Births, Deaths and Marriages staff

Mental health

• Alcohol and other drugs intake and assessment tools align with AUFV guides

Forensic disability and public housing workforces

• Tailored AUFV training for the entire workforces

Courts

• Implementing practice guides in 2024–25
• Learning needs analysis to be completed in 2024–25

Corrections and justice services

• Intermediate AUFV training for Community Correctional Services staff

Figure 6: MARAM training in 2023–24

Training data

• 89,317 training sessions across all sectors
• 2,483 participants in new MARAM Adults Using Family Violence (AUFV) training since it started in 2023

Health

• 57,813 MARAM and information sharing courses completed by the health, mental health and ambulance workforces

Child protection

• Risk assessment workshops for:
  • 650 child protection leaders and managers
  • 695 child protection practitioners

Forensic disability

• 90 (53%) forensic disability staff completed training
• 65 receive tailored AUFV training

Education

• 5,000 leaders and professionals completed training on information sharing and family violence reforms

Victoria Police

• 2,709 risk assessment and information sharing courses delivered

Consumer affairs

• All staff in financial counselling, dispute settlement and tenancy assistance attended training in 2023–24

Public Housing

• 360 existing housing staff completed tailored MARAM victim survivor identification training
• 87 staff completed tailored MARAM AUFV identification training

Multicultural affairs

• 132 Spectrum aged care workers attended MARAM elder abuse training

Corrections and justice services

• All Victims of Crime Helpline staff completed MARAM foundational training
• 412 youth justice staff completed information sharing scheme training
• 1,634 prison staff completed MARAM foundational training
• 567 community corrections staff completed intermediate victim survivor training

Courts

• 59 trainee court registrars completed MARAM training

Figure 7: Overview of legislation, policy and frameworks

Family Violence Protection Act 2008 (Vic) Part 11

Empowers responsible Minister to approve framework

Requirement on framework organisations to align policies, procedures, practice guidance and tools with the approved framework.

Obligations on Ministers: reporting; review of Framework; legislative review

Evaluation

5-year reviews:

• Must assess whether the framework reflects current evidence-based best practice (up to every 5 years)
• Must assess the extent to which the legislation is achieving consistency in family violence risk assessment and management (after the first 5 years)

2-year review:

• Considering whether the framework has been implemented as planned

Regulation

Family Violence Protection (Information Sharing and Risk Management) Amendment Regulations 2018:

• Defines prescribed matters for Ministers to report on, relating to implementation and operation of the framework by framework organisations

Legislative instrument

Family Violence Risk Assessment and Risk Management Framework:

• Defines what framework organisations should align to:
  • A set of principles reflecting the values underpinning the framework
  • 4 pillars, each with framework requirements, setting out the objectives of the framework

MARAM Framework

Provides evidence base and policy direction

Describes system architecture and accountability mechanisms

Expands on the pillars in the legislative instruments

Supporting resources

Operational practice guidance for risk assessment and management for victim survivors, adults using family violence, children and young people (pending)

Guidance for organisations and change leaders, including development of a maturity model approach to alignment.

Training for practitioners and organisational leaders (victim survivors, adults using family violence, children and young people, collaborative practice and leading alignment)

Family Violence Protection Act 2008 (Vic) Part 5A

Regulation

Family Violence Protection (Information Sharing and Risk Management Amendment Regulations 2018):

• Prescribes Information Sharing Entities authorising sharing under Family Violence Information Sharing Scheme

Family Violence Information Scheme Guidelines

Provide information on the operation of the legislation and guidance on appropriate information sharing

Supporting resources

Guidance checklists and templates supporting practice

Links to MARAM practice guides

Figure 8: MARAM Framework on a page

The Multi-Agency Risk Assessment and Management Framework (MARAM)

4 pillars to guide organisational alignment

• Pillar 1 – Shared understanding of family violence
• Pillar 2 – Consistent and collaborative practice
• Pillar 3 – Responsibilities for risk assessment and management
• Pillar 4 – Systems, outcomes and continuous improvement

10 MARAM practice responsibilities set at organisational level

1. Respectful, sensitive and safe engagements
2. Identification of family violence
3. Intermediate risk assessment
4. Intermediate risk management
5. Seek consultation for comprehensive risk assessment, risk management and referrals
6. Contribute to information sharing and other services (FVISS and CISS)
7. Comprehensive assessment
8. Comprehensive risk management and safety planning
9. Contribute to coordinated risk management
10. Collaborate for ongoing risk assessment and management

3 levels of practice for professionals:

Comprehensive

• All responsibilities

Intermediate

• All except 7 and 8

Identification

• All except 3, 4, 7 and 8

Framework requirements for each pillar

Pillar 1

Demonstrate understanding of:

• Family violence risk and impact
• Spectrum of family violence types
• Complexity of experiences in community (intersectionality)
• Use of the evidence-based risk factors to support determination of risk

Pillar 2

Apply consistent collaborative practice through use of:

• MARAM tools to screen, identify, assess, manage family violence risk
• FVISS/other laws to share information
• Structured professional judgement –
  • Victim survivor self-assessed level of fear
  • Evidence-based risk factors
  • Info sharing and collab
  • Own professional judgement

Pillar 3

Organisational leaders:

• Understand their organisation’s responsibilities in family violence risk assessment and management, and those that relate to the operation of the information sharing scheme
• Equip their workforce with the tools, resources and training to meet those responsibilities

Pillar 4

Contribute to understanding of the evidence base:

• Establish governance to oversee alignment
• Collect consistent information about the evidence-based risk factors from use of the tools and client feedback
• Lead change management activities to promote continuous improvement

10 principles to guide the service system

To help achieve a shared understanding, the Framework principles support each pillar and help guide Victoria’s family violence system-wide response.

1. Family violence is unacceptable
2. Services collaborate and share information
3. Victim survivor agency is respected
4. Children are victim survivors in their own right
5. Gender inequality is a driver for family violence
6. Children’s vulnerabilities and needs are unique
7. Culturally safe and non-discriminatory services for Aboriginal people
8. Accessible non-discriminatory services for diverse groups
9. System-wide view for perpetrator accountability
10. A different approach for young people who use violence

Figure 9: Survey responses by sector

Figure 10: Importance of organisational alignment to MARAM

Figure 11: My organisation has the tools, resources and training to meet MARAM obligations

Figure 12: My organisation applies consistent and collaborative practice using MARAM tools

Figure 13: Understanding of MARAM alignment

Figure 14: Training completed by professional and frontline staff

Figure 15: Training completed by organisational leaders or executives