Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://anrows.intersearch.com.au/anrowsjspui/handle/1/19513
Record ID: 73940453-bb3b-4e05-a422-8c3fc0098dd4
Web resource: https://eprints.qut.edu.au/204378/
Type: Report
Title: Impact of COVID on Domestic and Family Violence Workforce and Clients: Submission to the Australian Parliament Standing
Authors: Morley, Christine
Carrington, Kerry
Harris, Bridget
Warren, Shane
Clarke, Joanne
Ball, Matthew
Vitis, Laura
Categories: COVID-19 Research
Year: 2020
Publisher: QUT Centre for Justice
Notes: 

A research team from the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) Centre for Justice has prepared this interim select report drawn from our nation-wide survey on the impact of COVID-19 on the domestic and family violence (DFV) workforce and clients for submission to the Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs inquiry into and report on family, domestic and sexual violenceThe interim (July 24, 2020) findings of a nation-wide survey on the impact of COVID-19 on the domestic and family violence (DFV) sector and their clients based on 288 responses confirm concerns raised early in the COVID-19 pandemic. Australian healthcare and women’s safety professionals predicted an ‘impending increase’ in cases (Hegarty & Tarzia, 2020; Forster, 2020). Advocates have also reported increased complexities and challenges in assisting victims/survivors amidst COVID-19 (Forster, 2020). A huge proportion, 88% of respondents to our survey so far, have reported an increase in the complexity of their client needs. They also reported increases in controlling behaviours, such as isolation, increased sense of vulnerability, forced to co-habitat during lock-down, and inability to seek outside help, increased fear of monitoring by abuser, and increased use of technology to intimidate. Perhaps one of the most concerning of our findings is the number of DFV workers reporting new clients seeking their help for the first time during the COVID-19 crisis. This is evidence that the pandemic conditions are affecting the rate of domestic violence consistent with international research. We asked the DFV workforce what extra resources they needed to better cope with a crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic in the future. They need more of everything, but front-line workers emphasised the need for: • better technology and technology support for workers, technology checks for clients, more safe mobile phones for clients and better internet connectivity; • more government funding for crisis supplies and emergency and long-term accommodation; • transport for home delivery of services; • the continuation of tele-health provisions; • more resources for male perpetrator programs (especially for Indigenous men). They also need systems to be flexible, especially courts and magistrates and they called for improved policing and better communication and translation services and supports for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) communities.

URI: https://anrows.intersearch.com.au/anrowsjspui/handle/1/19513
Appears in Collections:Reports

Files in This Item:
There are no files associated with this item.


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

Google Media

Google ScholarTM

Who's citing