What MARAM practice guidance is being developed?

FSV have commenced the development of 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 own their own right and support their wellbeing in the context of family violence. The guidance will also 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 2023.

What has been achieved so far?

FSV has engaged the following subject matter experts to support the development of content for both sets of practice guidance:

• Centre for Excellence in Child and Family Welfare
• YSAS
• Centre for Innovative Justice
• RMIT
• Bendigo & District Aboriginal Co-operative (BDAC)
• Monash University

Monash University will undertake a project to engage directly with young people who have lived experience of family violence, which will include voices of young people from across diverse communities.

A project advisory group will be established, which will be made up of 6-7 youth advocates. If you are interested to learn more, please take a look at the project website.

Sector consultation has been held with around 200 professionals on responding to young people using family violence and direct engagement with children and young people as victim survivors, identifying both risk and wellbeing needs. To date consultation has occurred with professionals in child and family services, specialist family violence services, AOD, mental health, justice, courts, corrections and police.

A Request for Tender was released for the development of child and young person risk and wellbeing assessment tools. The tools will complement the practice guidance and be designed for use across all workforces prescribed for MARAM.

What is planned next?

Sector consultation will continue during Quarter 4, including consultation with professionals responding to children and young people experiencing family violence. This will include understanding experience of children and young people who have disabilities, are Aboriginal, LGBTIQ or culturally and faith-diverse. Professionals in education services will be consulted in August.

If you are interested in nominating to join this list please email your name, role, program area and organisation to infosharing@familysafety.vic.gov.au.

Links and resources

Adults using family violence training

What training is being developed?

There will be 3 training packages developed on Identification, Intermediate and Comprehensive responsibilities to support prescribed MARAM workforces and their practitioners.

What has been achieved so far?

Swinburne University of Technology and consortium partners Uniting Vic/Tas and Boorndawan Willam Aboriginal Healing Service (BWAHS) have delivered training package 1 for non-accredited MARAM training for working with adults using family violence. FSV have worked through providing feedback on structure and content and FSV facilitated a pilot session of the half-day identification package to obtain user feedback. Feedback from the pilot session will be collated and utilised to finalise the identification training package.

What is planned next?

A further pilot session with workers who have identification responsibilities is planned on the identification module for late August 2022 with the identification module to be finalised shortly thereafter. The intermediate and comprehensive modules are likely to be subject to a pilot in October 2022.

FSV will release a Request for Tender in mid-August 2022 to secure a lead training provider. The lead training provider is intended to deliver comprehensive training to specialist workforces, and support training approved others to deliver identification and intermediate modules to their workforces. A public information session on the tender will be held in late August for interested parties.

Redevelopment of MARAM victim survivor training

What training is available and subject of the review?

Victim survivor modules are available in identification, intermediate and comprehensive practice.

Collaborative Practice training is delivered through Principal Strategic Advisors.

Leading Alignment for organisational leaders is delivered by Safe and Equal.

What has been achieved in the redevelopment so far?

Safe and Equal have completed consultations from trainer and participant groups for the above modules and are preparing recommendations on potential updates. FSV will consider the recommendations and consult with stakeholders from September 2022.

After consultation on the recommendations Safe and Equal will redevelop the training modules, with timeframes for completion to be confirmed.

Links and resources

What is the MARAM video series?

The MARAM video series will cover 18 impactful and needed videos that support prescribed workforces to better understand the MARAM reforms more broadly and the key concepts and responsibilities that apply to their role. These videos will be available on the vic.gov.au website and YouTube.

The project will include 2 types of videos developed:

• Type 1 – MARAM Basics Series: Short, sharp specific topics related to MARAM practice, for example Structured Professional Judgement.
• Type 2 – MARAM victim survivor and PUV Series: Longer role play scenarios between a practitioner and client, including graphics with key topics raised.

What has been achieved so far?

FSV has appointed Gozer Media to undertake the video production work. FSV has engaged with four organisations (VAADA, NTV, Safe and Equal and Elizabeth Morgan House) to support development of role play videos showing risk assessment and management in practice. Script development for all videos has been finalised.

Gozer has developed the 11 animation Basic Series videos and filming has commenced on the role play videos.

What is planned next?

The Basic Series is anticipated for release towards the end of August 2022 and separate communications will be sent to confirm their launch.

The role play videos are scheduled to be released in October 2022.

What is the MARAM alignment maturity model?

The MARAM alignment maturity model is intended to be one of the key supporting resources of the MARAM Framework, sitting alongside the MARAM Practice Guidance and Organisational Embedding Guide, which support organisations to understand what steps they should take to align with MARAM and provide guidance on risk assessment and management responsibilities.

The model will provide a means for organisations to assess their level of progress in taking these alignment steps.

What has been achieved so far?

Nine sector champions have been appointed:

• Aldercourt Primary School
• Bendigo Health
• Bethany Community Services
• Caraniche
• EACH
• Early Childhood Australia
• Safe Steps
• Victorian Aboriginal Health Service
• the Youth Support and Advocacy Service.

The sector champions have undertaken an initial testing of a self-audit prototype and maturity matrix through 1-on-1 sessions. Results from these sessions is being collated into a revised prototype for testing.

What is planned next?

The sector champions will be engaged to undertake further testing of prototypes and provide feedback to FSV. FSV will conduct wider consultation on prototypes once they have been further progressed, with both government and sector representative groups.

What is the five-year legislative review?

The Family Violence Protection Act 2008 (the Act) provides the legislative basis for the Family Violence Information Sharing Scheme (FVISS) and the Central Information Point (CIP) in Part 5A. Part 11 of the Act provides the basis for the Family Violence Multi-Agency Risk Assessment and Management Framework (MARAM). The Act requires that a review be conducted in the 5th years of operation of the FVISS and CIP provisions and the first 5 years of operation of the MARAM provisions (ss 144SA and 195).

What has been achieved so far?

The Family Violence Reform Implementation Monitor (FVRIM) has been appointed to undertake the review, and this review will focus on the operation of the legislative provisions, rather than the implementation of the scheme and framework. The FVRIM has called for submissions to inform the Review. They are seeking the views of organisations, individual practitioners, advocates and others who may be impacted by the legislative provisions.

What is planned next?

The FVRIM is calling for submissions to inform the Review. They are seeking the views of organisations, individual practitioners, advocates and others who may be impacted by the legislative provisions. To make a submission on behalf of an organisation or as an individual practitioner visit Engage Victoria. https://engage.vic.gov.au/review-of-family-violence-information-sharing-and-risk-management

Submissions can be made up until 22 August 2022. The submission website includes some detailed questions to help guide your submission if you wish to respond to these.

If you would like further information about the Review or call for submissions process, or to consult with the Monitor, please contact info@fvrim.vic.gov.au.

The FVRIM has indicated the following timeline for the Review:

1. Consultation: June to November 2022
2. Call for submissions: June to August 2022
3. Draft report for review: February 2023
4. Final Report to Minister: May 2023
5. Review tabled in Parliament: August 2023

What are the Family Violence Capability Frameworks and why are they being reviewed?

The Family Violence Prevention and Response Capability Frameworks provide the foundational skill set required to both deliver prevention of violence against women initiatives and respond to all of forms of family violence.

The Capability Frameworks are used to support workforce mapping, planning, capacity building, recruitment and learning and development. The frameworks are relevant for all workforces intersecting with family violence in Victoria.

The frameworks were developed in 2017 as ‘living documents’. This review is a key priority outlined in Building From Strength Rolling Action Plan (1.15). It is timely not to reflect on the capability uplift required across the system as identified by the MARAM Framework, Free from Violence strategy and other family violence reform over the last five years.

Building from Strength outlines that everybody has a role in family violence response and prevention, this will be reflected in the update of the frameworks.

What has been achieved so far?

The new Centre for Workforce Excellence, which is now in the System Reform and Workforce Division of DFFH, has commenced an expression of interest process to recruit people for targeted consultation across affected workforces in Victoria. Thank you to all departments and agencies that have supported this process.

What is planned next?

Questions are being finalised for consult while continued background work is underway for the review, including ongoing literature review and analysis.

A round of targeted consultations with affected workforces across prevention and response are being planned to commence in September 2022.

The Department of Justice and Community Safety (DJCS) is undertaking an evaluation of the expanded, phased trial use of digitally recorded statements by family violence victim survivors using police issued body-worn cameras (referred to as DRECs). This initiative and its evaluation are a continuation of recommendation 58 of the Royal Commission into Family Violence.

The evaluators are interested in hearing from stakeholders who have had exposure to DREC in their work. They are keen to understand the experience supporting victim survivors who have provided a DREC, particularly with regards to impacts on workload and on victim survivors. Feedback will be incorporated into findings and recommendations that will inform the continuation of DREC across Victoria as well as legislation around the use of DRECs in court.

Stakeholders can complete a survey, participate in a consultation, or refer interested victim survivors (who have given a DREC or declined a DREC) that they work with to participate in an interview. Victim survivors who participate in an interview receive a $50 visa voucher for their time.

Victim survivors can register their interest or contact the lead evaluator Madeleine Kapira directly by emailing madeleine.kapira@justice.vic.gov.au.

Survey links for other stakeholder groups:

• Victoria Police members trained in DREC survey
• Magistrates survey
• Court officials (including registry staff) survey
• Legal practitioners sruvey
• Family Violence Support Workers survey.

This round of consultations will end on Wednesday 31 August 2022.

For more information on the DREC evaluation or to make a referral, please contact the lead evaluator Madeleine Kapira by emailing madeleine.kapira@justice.vic.gov.au.