Meeting the Needs of our Children

Effective Community-Controlled Strategies that Prevent and Respond to Family Violence

Fact Sheet – March 2013

The research project Meeting the Needs of our Children – Effective Community-Controlled Strategies that Prevent and Respond to Family Violence aims to increase awareness by service providers, researchers, policy makers and other decision makers of effective community-controlled strategies targeted to children’s needs that prevent and respond to family violence.

While there is evidence of the importance of local solutions to prevent and to respond to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander family violence, there is a gap in information on key principles from practice that are critical to effectively working with Aboriginal communities and reducing the incidence of family violence. There is also a gap in understanding what these principles mean and how they can be realised for outcomes for children.

This research project seeks to redress this gap through developing a Good Practice Principles and Process Framework. This will draw on available literature as well as experiences of service leaders on the ground around Australia. This fact sheet introduces this project and outlines key themes and findings from the literature review developed in its first stage on what we know about meeting the needs of our children through effective community controlled strategies to prevent and respond to violence. This is supplemented by a draft Good Practice Principles and Process Framework. The project will also explore required supports to implement these principles. The outcomes of this research will be used to engage with Government stakeholders and diverse services on principles of good practice that most effectively support and ensure child safe Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.