Our progress against the Rolling action plan 2020-2023

We committed to 209 activities in the second Rolling action plan. At the end of 2022:

• 121 (58 per cent) are complete, up from 40 in 2021. This includes ongoing activities that are now under way
• 82 (39 per cent) are in progress, with most of these on track to be completed in 2023
• 6 (3 per cent) are in progress but have experienced delays.

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The following sections highlight key actions taken in 2022 in relation to:

• the reform-wide priorities of lived experience and intersectionality (Aboriginal self-determination is addressed under the priority relating to Dhelk Dja: Safe our way)
• the additional themes of sexual assault and children and young people
• the 10 specific priorities under the Rolling action plan.

Reform-wide priorities

Lived experience

• The Victim Survivors’ Advisory Council introduced seven new members in October 2022. It co-designed the Lived experience strategy and the online forum More than our story: Action, wisdom and change.
• The Lived Experience Strategy sets out clear priorities and actions to create more opportunities for people with lived experience to lead and influence the implementation of the family violence reform.

Intersectionality

• As part of the Intersectionality Capacity Building Project, we piloted and released resources to equip family violence and universal service workforces to embed an intersectional approach across family violence, sexual assault, and child and family services.
• Through the LGBTIQ+ Family Violence Capacity Building Initiative, we continued to build the capacity of specialist family violence workers to provide appropriate support and resources for LGBTIQ+ communities. Key achievements include the development of the Inclusive refuge guide and the roll out of LGBTIQ+ inclusion training to sexual assault services.

Additional themes

Children and young people

• Approximately 3,000 therapeutic services were provided to children to support their healing and recovery from family violence. These included services such as child–parent attachment therapy for children under five, and play, art and music therapies.
• The Adolescent Family Violence in the Home program was expanded across the state. The program delivers a new early intervention model of care for young people aged 12 to 17 years who use violence and their families, to reduce violence in the home and increase the safety of impacted family members. Approximately 1,040 children and young people, and their families, participate in the program each year, including 170 Aboriginal families.
• We funded the Centre for Excellence in Child and Family Welfare to develop eight practice guides to support workers across The Orange Door network and the broader sector to engage more effectively with children and young people in their own right.
• Monash University was funded to deliver a lived experience research project to inform the development of the Child and young-person-focused MARAM practice guides and tools. The I believe you report report was published in 2023. It presents findings from 17 in-depth interviews conducted with Victorian children and young people, aged 10 to 25, with lived experience of family violence.

Sexual assault

• 15,788 sexual assault support services were provided to victim survivors of recent and past sexual assault, including children and young people. These services included immediate crisis support such as counselling, advocacy, and liaison with Child Protection as well as long-term therapies to support healing and recovery.
• We upgraded the statewide Sexual Assault Crisis Line delivered by Sexual Assault Services Victoria. This upgrade will provide an improved service for victim survivors of sexual assault, enhance record-keeping and provide a web-based chat option.