COVID-19 impacts on domestic and family violence are coming into focus. Urgent action is needed
While it was anticipated that lockdown measures in response to the COVID-19 pandemic would increase incidences of domestic and family violence, barriers to women accessing help made the full effects difficult to measure. In today’s analysis, Hayley Foster (@CEOWomensSafety) of Women’s Safety NSW (@WomensSafetyNSW) shares a summary of findings from a survey of practitioners which provide an emerging picture of what women’s experiences have been in lockdown and how the service system needs to be strengthened so that women have a realistic pathway to safety. Specific recommendations for keeping women safer provide a roadmap for immediate service and policy reform.
During the COVID-19 restrictions, many of us have spent more time at home. This has included working from home and, for many, home schooling children. We have seen our friends and our extended families much less, as we’ve avoided contact with other people. We have limited our trips outside to only the most essential of activities.
We have done all this for the good of our communities; to keep ourselves and our loved ones safe from a disease that has had a devastating impact around the world. We have stayed home because that is the safe choice.
However, for some people, home is not a safe place. For some, being home means being within reach of an abuser.
Social distancing and self-isolation measures have meant that victims of domestic family violence are at greater risk. These measures have also increased the challenges that victims face in seeking support. This was highlighted in two reports that Women’s Safety NSW published in March and April 2020 detailing the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on women and children experiencing domestic and family violence.
What are frontline workers reporting?
Women’s experiences behind closed doors during the lockdown are starting to come into focus. There are important lessons for practice and policy responses. Photo by Kristijan Arsov on Unsplash
Now, after months of social distancing measures and as restrictions are being lifted, we have conducted a survey of 43 frontline workers and service providers across NSW (25.6% Inner Metropolitan, 37.2% Outer Metropolitan, 32.6% Regional, 4.7% Rural). The aim of the survey is to provide greater insight into how domestic violence victims have been impacted by COVID-19 and what measures need to be taken to provide access to the support and services that they need.
The results of the survey paint a clear, and deeply concerning, picture.
During COVID-19 victims of domestic violence were at home, with their abusers, with less access to support networks and services. During this time, there has been an increase in stress points, such as financial stresses, unemployment and mental health issues, which increases the risk of violence. The survey identified an increase in incidence and severity of violence, with 43.9% of respondents saying that women reported an escalation of violence and abuse during the COVID-19 lockdown.
Frontline workers and service providers report an increase in clients as well as an increase in the severity of people’s situations. They are seeing more clients at a serious threat level and an increase in domestic violence involving weapons and knives. This is consistent with the results of a similar survey conducted in April 2020, in which 75% of surveyed frontline workers and service providers reported that the complexity of client needs was increasing.
Survey respondents also reported an increase in exit planning, with 41.5% reporting that more women are making plans to escape the violence.
However, this comes with its own dangers. Research shows that women are at most risk of serious assault or homicide directly following separation from a violent partner.
Unfortunately, while violence and risk have increased, so too have the barriers to accessing services. 61.0% of survey respondents identified women reporting that it is harder to engage with services and processes at this time, 39.0% reported that women are finding it hard to engage with services safely and 29.3% reported insufficient service availability.
Without the services, support and protections to keep them safe and provide them with a place to go and a way to support themselves and their children, domestic violence victims looking to escape from abusive partners can find themselves in even greater danger.
The survey identified a number of key service gaps preventing frontline workers and service providers from providing the best possible support to women and children experiencing violence during COVID-19, including:
59.5% identified inconsistent police responses
54.8% identified poor access to ongoing accommodation
50.0% identified poor access to support/ case management to support them in their complex needs
47.6% identified poor access to income and material needs
42.9% identified poor access to temporary accommodation
33.3% identified poor access to culturally specific community supports (for particular women, e.g. Aboriginal, CALD, women with disabilities, older women, younger women and LBTIQ+)
33.3% identified inconsistent court outcomes
28.7% identified poor access to safe at home support (e.g. Staying Home Leaving Violence)
19.1% identified poor access to free legal services to assist them with child recovery where there are safety concerns
11.9% identified poor access to information in appropriate languages (for immigrant and refugee women)
Again, these results are consistent with feedback that has been provided by frontline workers and services since the outbreak of the pandemic. In particular, access to ongoing accommodation, access to support/casework to assist clients with complex needs, and access to income and material needs have been consistently identified in the top four key service gaps by frontline workers surveyed in March, April and May 2020.
Of particular note are concerns regarding inconsistent police responses. While this was reported as the fourth and sixth most commonly identified gap in March and April respectively, in the most recent survey inconsistency of police responses is the most commonly identified service gap.
Practical solutions
As restrictions continue to be lifted and victims have greater opportunity to report violence, seek assistance, and flee from abusive living situations, these service gaps will only become more apparent.
It is crucial that action is taken to ensure women have the material support they need to safely reach out to domestic violence and other services, and that those services are adequately resourced to assist them. This is particularly important as we emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, which has forced these vulnerable people into even greater risk.
Immediate government action is needed. This must include increased funding, training and resources to address the significant service gaps identified by frontline services. One of the most crucial issues arising from the pandemic, however, is the barriers that domestic family violence victims are facing in accessing support services. There are several key steps that must be taken immediately to ensure that frontline services are easily accessible to those who are most at risk of harm.
Promotion of domestic family violence services
One of the main barriers to accessing support services for domestic family violence victims is not knowing what services are available or how to safely access them. Better promotion of services and more information about local services need to be available through a range of sources including social media, online materials, advertising campaigns in public spaces and health service centres. It is noted that the NSW Government announced its “Speak Out” public awareness campaign over the weekend. This is commended. However, it has come three months after Women’s Safety NSW and partners had called for such an initiative.
Improved referral pathways
There is an urgent need for more efficient or automatic triaging of referrals from 1800RESPECT and the Domestic Violence Line to frontline DFV services in states and territories. Victims of violence and abuse should not have to be passed from service to service to re-tell their story in order to obtain the essential safety and support they need at the local level.
Access to Webchat
Domestic family violence victims need a range of ways to safely and securely contact support services. A Webchat option could provide a safer and more discreet option for people living in unsafe home environments to make contact, and we know that for many people this is how they feel most safe and comfortable to reach out for safety and support. State and territory domestic and family violence service systems still don’t have this option available and this needs to change.
Co-location of domestic family violence services and medical centres
Providing victims of DFV with the option to seek help in an accessible forum such as a health clinic may help to engage women who are marginalised or deeply fearful, and who otherwise would not report their experiences of violence at all. We need to make sure safety and support is available to people in the places they feel most comfortable to reach out for that support. That may be their GP, their counsellor, or their health or community centre. These places need to be fully equipped to identify DFV and provide supported referrals to specialist DFV services, and in some cases co-location of DFV workers should be considered.
While this most recent state-wide survey of frontline specialist domestic and family violence workers in NSW reinforces the heightened risk that \women, children and families at risk of domestic and family violence have been placed under as a result of COVID-19 social isolation measures, it also points to clear actions that can be taken to increase support and protections for victims.
Many victims of domestic and family violence remain unaware of the services there to support them, or how to access them. Moreover, there are significant service gaps which continue to persist, preventing women, children and families accessing the support they need to achieve lasting safety.
Government action is urgently needed to improve access to support services.
Read more in Women’s Safety NSW published report: Impacts of COVID-19 on Domestic and Family Violence as Restrictions Ease.
This post is part of the Women's Policy Action Tank initiative to analyse government policy using a gendered lens. View our other policy analysis pieces here.
Posted by @SusanMaury @GoodAdvocacy