MARAM practice guidance

What Family Violence Multi-Agency Risk Assessment and Management (MARAM) practice guidance is being developed?

Family Safety Victoria (FSV) is developing MARAM practice guidance for:

• direct risk and wellbeing assessment of children and young people victim survivors

• identifying and responding to young people using family violence in the home and in intimate partner/dating relationships (recognising young people using violence often experience family violence risk).

This new practice guidance will support workforces prescribed under the MARAM Framework to respond to children and young people as victim survivors in their own right and support their wellbeing in the context of family violence. The guidance will support professionals to respond to young people using violence with a trauma and violence-informed, and age and developmental stage lens. The practice guides and tools are anticipated for release in 2024.

What has been achieved so far?

In 2022-23, 41 consultation sessions were held with over 500 professionals across MARAM prescribed workforces to support the development of the child and young person-focused MARAM practice guidance.

The Centre for Excellence in Child and Family Welfare, YSAS, and Safe and Equal were engaged to contribute to the development of the Practice Guides, with much of their work contributing to the project now completed. In addition, FSV engaged RMIT and Monash University to undertake research reports.

In December 2022, RMIT published the report ‘Adolescents using Family Violence (AUFV) MARAM Practice Guidance Project 2022: Review of the Evidence Base’.

In March 2023, Monash University published their report, ‘Young people’s experiences of identity abuse in the context of family violence: A Victorian study’. The report provides analysis of Victorian responses received to Monash University’s national survey on children and young people’s family violence experiences, use of violence, service, and support needs. The report builds on the I Believe You report published by Monash University in February 2023, and supports further understanding of the voice and experience of children and young people experiencing family violence.

The findings from each report will directly inform the practice guidance and tools by incorporating young people’s experience of barriers to help seeking and service engagement, and experience of family violence that targets the young person’s identity and/or culture.

In June 2023, FSV further engaged a consortium of VACCA and Yoowinna Wurnalung Aboriginal Healing Service (YWAHS) to work on content across the draft practice guidance, co-lead consultations with key stakeholders, engage with and draw upon children and young people’s voices, contribute to tool and template development and support user testing processes.

This approach will ensure that consultation and user testing is culturally safe, and an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander lens is centred throughout the development of the Practice Guides and tools.

VACCA and YWAHS have now drafted content on cultural concepts and culturally strong practice to be embedded throughout the Practice Guides. ACCO consultation workshops will be held in early 2024 to discuss these topics and provide an opportunity for practitioners to share cultural wisdom and insights.

Over the coming months, Swinburne University will commence a Delphi study which will be used to develop the identification and assessment tools. This study will include both survey and focus groups over several feedback rounds with subject matter experts, including practitioners from prescribed workforces.

If you are interested in participating in the surveys or focus groups, please express your interest to Kate Ball at infosharing@familysafety.vic.gov.au.

Links and resources