Department of Social Services – Service system responses to the needs of children to keep them safe from violence and assess the extent to which service interventions further victimise women who are experiencing violence

The Department of Social Services has commissioned a pilot project which will:
• develop a profile of the children and families reported to child protection with issues of domestic and family violence
• identify and map service responses including the use of safety plans and other actions taken including referrals.
• make recommendations on how community-based and government services can better recognise and respond to violence.
In exploring these issues, the research project will:
• for context conduct a focused literature review on research that deals with the intersection of child protection and family violence systems, including the identification of service gaps and access pathways;
• conduct an analysis of data extracted from child protection files to develop a profile of children and families who come to the attention of child protection authorities.
• conduct interviews with child protection practitioners and non-government agencies workers;
• synthesise the findings of these research activities to outline the findings of the pilot study and the effectiveness of the approach to tracking what happens to these children and families.