Type:	Journal Article
Title:	Supporting community solutions to family violence
Other Titles:	Australian social work
Authors:	Gentle, Ian Taylor, Judy Cheers, Brian Weetra, Colin
Keywords:	Policy;Community attitudes;Indigenous issues
Year:	2004
Publisher:	Australian Association of Social Workers
Citation:	57 (1), March 2004
Notes:	This paper discusses the importance of Indigenous communities having access to real support when implementing solutions to reduce the incidence and prevalence of family violence in their communities. It stipulates that appropriate policy and funding options be generated from the holistic Indigenous perspective of family violence. The paper discusses the importance of acknowledging the difference between the terms ‘domestic’ and ‘family’ violence, since both terms are used interchangeably in Australian policy documents. The authors argue that the interchangeable use of these terms and the predominance of the domestic violence paradigm may suppress the understandings that many Indigenous people and communities have of family violence. It describes domestic violence being of Western understanding with an emphasis on intimate relationships between adult partners, isolating these from family and community relationships, and discusses the emergence of domestic violence as a social issue. Indigenous communities prefer the term ‘family violence’ as it includes all forms of violence in intimate relationships and covers a broad range of family relationships and the wider community. Research undertaken on a small community in remote South Australia found that it understood family violence as being part of the whole community’s issues which included interfamily fighting, community fighting, psychological abuse, spiritual abuse, abuse of elders by undermining their authority as well as being between men and women, men and men, women and women, adults and children, children and children and different groups. The study identified a lack of resources and services to address key concerns and highlighted that family violence was considered a community-wide issue. Two posters were designed to illustrate this concept and are reproduced in this paper. The paper highlights the need of a holistic approach to Indigenous family violence and recommends that funding is pooled across relevant State, Territory, Commonwealth and ATSIC jurisdictions and made available in addition to current funding (eg. SAAP). It asserts that the process of achieving pooled funding would legitimise and bring to prominence the Indigenous holistic perspective of family violence.
URI:	https://anrows.intersearch.com.au/anrowsjspui/handle/1/12272
ISSN:	0312-407X
Appears in Collections:	Journal Articles

Items in ANROWS library are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.