According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (2018), family violence is a major health and welfare issue across all ages and socioeconomic and demographic groups, but it mostly affects women and children. While there is no single cause that results in domestic violence, several risk factors have been associated with perpetrators and victims of domestic violence. Carrington et al. (2020) stated that family violence victimization is one of the most common reasons women leave their homes in Australia. Also, children exposed to family violence experience long-term effects on their development and have an increased risk of having mental health issues. To help address the issue of domestic violence, various support services have been established. The essay will discuss Domestic Violence Crisis Service (DVCS) as one of the support services for women and children experiencing domestic violence in Australia. In this case, the paper will provide an overview of this service sector and the management challenges it might face. Further, the essay will analyze two partnerships that should be established to address the identified management issues and the importance of innovation in the context of women and children experiencing family violence.
Domestic Violence Crisis Service (DVCS)
Domestic Violence Crisis Service (DVCS) is a non-government independent organization established in 1988 and offered the following services.
24/7 crisis intervention
In line with Canberra Grammar School (2021), DVCS offers 24/7 free intervention services to everyone who was experiencing or has been previously subjected to family violence so that they can rebuild their lives. The crisis services provided by the organization include referrals to appropriate support services such as counseling, visa issues, and legal and financial advice. Moreover, Domestic Violence Crisis Intervention helps the victims access safe emergency accommodation, provides them with accurate information about their rights and works closely with the police to support victims and families who need their services.
Legal Support and Advocacy
As an organization, DVCS has a court advocacy program and a family violence intervention program that helps and supports domestic violence victims to apply for Family Violence Orders (FVO). Moreover, the organization has a legal advocacy team that helps people subjected to domestic violence give evidence in court, develop victim impact statements, access legal advice, and update them on family violence issues before going to court (Canberra Grammar School, 2021).
Women/Families Staying@Home Program
Women and children suffer most from family violence as they lose their support networks and are left homeless. To support them, DVSC has a Staying@Home Program, which helps women stay safe in their homes after leaving an abusive relationship. The organization helps undertake risk assessments, develop a safety plan, provide information and appropriate referral services, and liaise and advocate with relevant agencies.
Men-Room4Change
The organization has this kind of program to help men stop violence and have better, healthy, and respectful relationships. In this case, the participants attend weekly sessions and receive the support they need, for instance, helping them address some of the issues that contribute to violent behaviors.
Programs for young people
DVCS has a Young Peoples Outreach program to assist in the recovery and enhance the wellbeing of young people and children who have been victims or witnesses of domestic violence. The organization helps these children have positive, trusting, and safe relationships with their families and ensures they have access to ongoing support after the program (Canberra Grammar School, 2021).
Support groups
Lastly, the Domestic Violence Crisis Service has support groups for both women and children to allow them to share their experiences with other victims who have been subjected to similar circumstances so that they can learn from each other.
Management challenges
Inadequate funding and support
Domestic Violence Crisis Service does not work as a single entity. The organization needs funding to execute its operations effectively. DVCS relies on donations and financial support from various organizations to support its frontline services and help reduce family violence and abuse within society (Canberra Grammar School, 2021). The lack of consistent and sufficient funding leads to other barriers that will pose significant challenges to its management team since they will not carry out their operations as expected. Similarly, lack of sufficient support is also another managerial challenge that the organization is likely to face. DVCS has to collaborate with other governmental and non-governmental organizations to ensure that its objectives support women and children experiencing domestic violence. For instance, the organization needs to work with the police to help victims of domestic violence obtain justice and the support they need. Moreover, the organization has to collaborate with other organizations for referral services. Therefore, when these organizations do not collaborate and provide adequate support, DVCS will be at risk of facing significant managerial challenges that will adversely affect service provision to women and children experiencing family violence (Portillo-Castro, 2016).
Non-reporting of incidents
There are so many cases of domestic violence that are not reported in the country. Since there are so many causes of domestic violence, most of the victims do not know what to do when they are faced with the issue. Following this, it becomes hard for them to report the incidences to the relevant authorities. The community attitudes towards gender roles, sexual assault, and sexuality also contribute to the non-reporting of issues (Philips et al., 2015). Therefore, women and children tend to believe that it is okay to live in a place that they are not safe since the community believes that being a woman is weak. The fact that women are treated as the inferior gender makes them withstand many issues that negatively affect them. Following this, they are mistreated, and they suffer a lot together with their children. On the other hand, when children grow up seeing their mothers withstanding domestic violence, they tend to believe that it is normal to live in a home full of violence. Therefore, the boys will grow to be men who abuse the women and feel comfortable doing it since it is normal to them. Similarly, the girls grow and become women who withstand domestic violence, and they do not report the cases since they believe it is normal to be beaten up. Therefore, domestic violence cases continue increasing, yet the management has no idea of the real situation.
To solve this problem, the management needs to educate society more on domestic violence. Since domestic violence occurs in various ways, society should know that it becomes easy for the victims to report these cases. The management cannot be able to solve the cases if they do not know they are happening. Therefore, the Domestic Violence Crises services must work hand in hand with the community (Philips et al., 2015). Through this, it will be easy to know about these cases, solve them, and help the victims move on. Education about domestic violence can be done through announcements and advertisements on public platforms. This will ensure that more people have learned about it; hence, they will report any act related to domestic violence. Besides, schools should teach children about domestic violence. If some children face this at their homes, they should be encouraged to report the issues to the management so that the cases are forwarded to the Domestic Violence Crises Services departments.
Two partnerships that services operating in this sector could establish to solve the management services
One of the managerial challenges facing DVCS is the lack of enough funds to deal with all domestic violence cases. DVCS depends on funding and donations for both the government and other non-governmental organizations. Following this, the sector needs to partner with the government so that it gets enough funding. Sometimes, it is hard to depend on individual donations since the donors do not need to donate their help. Therefore, the organization is left to suffer, making it hard for the management to handle all domestic violence cases effectively. The government should embrace the organization and ensure that it has all the necessary resources. Since one of the millennium development goals is to promote gender equality and empower women, the government should work with organizations that help bring this dream to reality (World Health Organisation, 2018). Once the women are empowered, they will know it is wrong to live in an environment that is not safe. As a result, it will be easy for them to avoid domestic violence and protect their children from the same as well.
The government can develop a regulation that states that a certain percentage is allocated to the Domestic Violence Crises Services. The money can be allocated annually or monthly. Different changes should be made depending on how the cases are and the resources needed. If domestic violence cases keep increasing, the government should also increase the money allocated to the organization. It will be easy for the organisation to handle all the victims and ensure that all cases are well solved with time. Therefore, the organization can consider changing its status from private to public so that it becomes easy for them to access other governmental services. For example, it will be easy for the cases to be handled effectively at the police station if the organization is public since they will not need to pay anything. Besides, if the organization needs to access some medical services for the victims, the services can be free since the organization is public. This will reduce the costs needed to run the organization; hence it will be more productive and easier to achieve its goals and objectives.
The organization can also partner with the education department. A lot of community sensitization needs to be done. Since the second managerial challenge discussed above is the non-reporting of cases, most victims fail to report the cases because they do not know that it is wrong. Therefore, the organization should partner with the education department to include domestic violence in the curriculum (Alanna, 2018). More people will learn about domestic violence; hence, it will be easy to report the issues to the relevant authorities. According to Alanna (2018), the organization can organize different days and go to schools to educate the students, parents, and educators about the issue. They will also share their contacts so that in case one wants to report a case, and they can dial the number and report instantly. Once people learn about domestic violence and how it can be prevented, the cases will reduce, and the organization will achieve its goal of ensuring that domestic violence cases have been reduced.
Importance of innovation to Domestic Violence Crises Services
One of the major importance of embracing innovation in the organization is that it will be easier to deal with more people at the same time. One of the important innovations is ensuring that victims have easy access to shelter, advocacy, and interventions (Wilson, 2020). Following this, the organization must develop ways that make it easier for the victims to contact them. The company can have zoom sessions for the victims so that they can keep track of the victim. Having zoom meetings with the victims will, for example, help track how the victims are progressing. As a result, the organization will know if the victim needs more help or if they are already okay to concentrate on other cases. Therefore, the innovations will ensure that the victims are safe.
Innovation will help many people know about domestic violence and how it can be solved. When the organization creates accounts on social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and other social media sites, more people will know about it and what they do (Wilson, 2020). As a result, the people on social media will learn from their posts on their timelines. The information learned is spread easily on social media; hence it reaches many people quickly. The more people learn about domestic violence, the easier it becomes to deal with the issue and prevent more cases. People will get contacts from social media sites, and it will be easier to reach out for help.
References
Alanna. (2018, October 8). Community Education, Awareness, and Training. DVCS. Retrieved November 8, 2021, from https://dvcs.org.au/education-training/
Philips, J., Dunkley, A., Muller, D., & Lorimer, C. (2015). Domestic Violence: Issues and Policy Challenges. Analysis & Policy Observatory | APO. Retrieved November 8, 2021, from https://apo.org.au/node/58976
Wilson, L. (2020, May 6). Innovations that Address Violence Against Women during COVID-19 – Global Rights for Women. Global Rights for Women – Justice for Victims of Violence. Retrieved November 8, 2021, from https://globalrightsforwomen.org/staff-voices/innovations-that-address-violence-against-women-during-covid-19/
World Health Organisation. (2018, February 19). Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). WHO | World Health Organization. Retrieved November 8, 2021, from https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/millennium-development-goals-(MDGs)
write