Research reports

With momentous reforms underway to address family violence in Victoria and across Australia, there is an increased acknowledgement that children – once considered the ‘silent victims’ of family violence – are impacted in their own right. Targeted responses that consider and address particular risks to children’s safety are therefore essential. This is reflected in the recommendations from the Royal Commission into Family Violence and the subsequent reform agenda led by the Victorian Government.

This Practice Inquiry contributes to an evidence base to support these developments by providing insights from the practitioners who work with women, children and families impacted by family violence.

Read the report → Improving responses to children who experience family violence: When policy reform meets practice

Awareness and understanding of family violence has increased substantially in recent years. Research into areas of family violence that have historically been pushed to the margins, such as perpetrator interventions, has also expanded significantly. Much of the research into perpetrator programs has focused on theoretical frameworks, program design and evaluation of program effectiveness. What is missing, however, is a detailed exploration of the engagement techniques that practitioners employ, and intake and assessment practices more broadly. The research undertaken through this Practice Inquiry attends to this knowledge gap.

Read the Findings at a Glance → Start of change: Mapping engagement with male perpetrators of violence — Findings at a Glance

Read the report → Start of change: Mapping engagement with male perpetrators of violence — Practice Inquiry 2018

A report to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women examines Australia's compliance with the Convention on the Eliminations of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. The report is intended to inform the Committee's review of Australia during the 70th Session in July 2018.

The report was prepared by a coalition of Australian non-government organisations, including Good Shepherd Australia New Zealand.

Australia’s Compliance with the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women_Shadow Report_PDF (1MB)

Children and young people in their middle years (defined here as between the ages of 8–12) are being overlooked in policy and program design. Not yet adolescents, but no longer children, these young people are increasingly experiencing complex challenges. Good Shepherd Australia New Zealand undertook this research to highlight some of these challenges and to identify how to better support this age group.

Bridging the Divide - Supporting children and young people in their middle years_PDF (2MB)

This report is based on a review of recent literature and policy relating to the middle years cohort (which, in this report, is defined as spanning a period from eight to 12 years of age). Based on this evidence, the report has developed a set of key findings about the middle years.

Some of the findings are that children and young people in their middle years can face various social, behavioural and developmental challenges, including the early onset of puberty and disengagement from school. The middle years are a period in which mental health issues can first start to manifest. There is evidence that girls and young women in their middle years are now experiencing poorer mental health than their male counterparts. Gender has a significant impact on the challenges and needs experienced by children and young people in their middle years. In particular, girls and young women can face distinct issues that stem from gender inequality and stereotypes, including issues relating to poor body image, mental health problems, poor wellbeing, low self-esteem, educational disengagement, early sexualisation and experiences of violence.

One Foot in Each World: Challenges and Opportunities for Children and Young People in the Middle Years

Good Shepherd Australia New Zealand, with the support of the Con Irwin sub-fund of the Victorian Women’s Trust, reviewed literature about economic security and domestic and family violence and conducted a review in order to develop a definition of economic security that reflected its individual and structural elements. From there, a range of potential indicators with which to measure the economic security for survivors were scoped. A measurement tool was also piloted with the support of the Australia Institute.

Economic Security for Survivors of Domestic and Family Violence

This report aims to improve understanding of the financial issues faced by women in situations of family violence and propose policy, regulatory and practice solutions. It outlines the research findings and makes a number of recommendations regarding the prevention of economic abuse as a form of family violence and systemic support for women who have experienced it.

Restoring Financial Safety: Legal Responses to Economic Abuse (PDF, 2 MB, opens in new window)

InfoGraph - Restoring Financial Safety Legal Responses to Economic Abuse

InfoGraph - Preventing Family Violence Is Everyone’s Responsibility

The intent of this research was to pilot an empowering methodology, in which the process encourages agency and confidence in parents through the process of self identifying what effective support of their children's learning looks like to them, and how to measure it over time. This research was focused on parents - their voice, their viewpoint, their vision of how support could be improved. The research report details how this process could be scaled up to encourage parent engagement across multiple school sites. It also reflects on the policy implications of what meaningful engagement requires and its potential benefits.

Uplift: An Empowerment Approach to Parent Engagement in Schools (PDF, 3 MB, opens in new window)

Service integration has been pursued by successive state and federal governments. While the language of "joined-up", "integrated" and "holistic" is now common, models of service collaboration and investigations of integration in practice are in their infancy. Understanding how local service networks operate, and therefore how they can be improved, is crucial in the pursuit of effective integrated services.

The research presented in this report offers a snapshot of service collaboration, which is occurring through referral and other links within local networks in financial support services. The research aimed to uncover the elements of effective local financial support service systems. Social network mapping and analysis was used to document and describe existing financial support services and their integration with other local programs. 

Collaborating for Outcomes: Networks in the Financial Support Service System (PDF, 5MB, opens in new window)

This report found that forced marriage is an emerging issue in Australia. In 2013, forced marriage became a specific criminal offence under Australian law. In spite of this development, not much is known about forced marriage in our community. Very little research has been conducted on this issue in Australia. "The Right to Refuse" was an action research project undertaken by Good Shepherd Youth & Family Service, DV Vic and Good Shepherd Australia New Zealand. The key part of this project was an information sharing forum, which confirmed that forced marriage is a complex phenomenon that requires a targeted, cross-sectoral response. It also confirmed that forced marriage is not an exotic problem that exists "somewhere else" in the world. Rather, it is a problem that is faced by women and girls in our own community.

The Right to Refuse: Examining Forced Marriage in Australia (PDF, 980 KB, opens in new window)

Right to Refuse: Fact Sheet

This conference paper examines the role of social work in navigating complex service systems for citizens in need. Author, Dr Kathy Landvogt, proposes that Centrelink social workers, in helping to get doors to open, are "boundary-riders" moving through different parts of the income support system, and into the community service sector, spanning differences, interpreting one part to another, encouraging and urging parts of these systems to stretch over the service gaps that fall between them, and opening doors wider so people can get in to the help they need.

Eastern Victoria Social Work Conference June 19 2013: The Social Work Space - at the boundaries, doorways and edges of systems (PDF, 278 KB, opens in new window)

This groundbreaking research report reveals that, just like other forms of family violence, economic abuse can have devastating and long term impacts for women and children. Recommendations to come out of the project include a public education campaign to tackle commonly held views that men should be in charge of family finances, that women lack financial nous, and that economic issues within relationships and society should remain secretive. The research reveals that since power, control and coercion are at the heart of economic abuse, it is crucial to give women the capacity to resist their partners' attempts to control their finances.

Economic Abuse: Searching for Solutions. A Spotlight on Economic Abuse Research Project May 2013 (PDF, 2.95 MB, opens in new window)

The Caught Short Report is an Australian Research Council report by RMIT University and the University of Queensland with funds provided by the National Australia Bank and Good Shepherd Youth & Family Service. The research investigates the lived experiences of 112 individuals borrowing small, short-term loans from non-bank companies in Queensland, NSW and Victoria.

Caught Short - August 2012 (PDF 1.47 MB)

This research report found that people on the poverty line are good money managers but must constantly juggle finances to make ends meet. People interviewed for the research reported that getting a small loan gave them the confidence and breathing space to embark on a course of education, training and employment or simply look after the needs of their family. Microfinance therefore functions as an important stepping stone in people overcoming financial hardship. But it is most effective as one element of a multi-dimensional response to poverty and financial inequality.

Microfinance and the Household Economy - October 2011 (PDF 1.14MB)

This model addresses a number of long-standing gaps in existing service provisions which make it harder for many women leaving situations of violence to rebuild their lives. The model draws upon extensive primary research commissioned by Good Shepherd Youth & Family Service, in addition to research reports undertaken by a number of community sector and government bodies. It was developed in consultation with a reference group comprising a range of key sector stakeholders as well as policy and practice experts in the field of family violence. The model recommends complementing existing service provisions to create a systematic response for women and children who require more targeted and longer term support than the current Victorian Integrated Family Violence Service System provides.

Filling the Gap - April 2011 (PDF 1.31 MB)

The purpose of this research was to give a voice to young people who have experienced educational disadvantage and to use their stories to promote positive change in the education system.

I Just Want To Go To School

For further insight click on the names below to hear personal stories from students.

Alexandra
"Schools need to recognise bullying early and intervene early - so there's less negative impact on other students. The best way to empower a student is to make sure they have a sound state of mental health."

Andy
"I think I've missed out by not being in mainstream school. I only go to school three days a week now, instead of five. If you go five days you learn way more and you get a better education. My chances of becoming a doctor or brain surgeon or lawyer are way lower now."

Anna
"Some of my teachers made me feel better too. They said, "Dont worry about it, work on your schooling. You don't need people that put you down in your life."

Casey
"Don't let people tell you who you are because you're the only one who knows yourself truely."

Guy
"When I came to Australia primary school was ok but when I started high school I had trouble understanding that level of English."

Harry
"I think teacher's at the moment give you a work sheet and say it might be hard but just do it, but I think they should actually sit there and explain it to you so you have less chance of failing on the work sheets."

Kate
"Hanging out with my friends was what I enjoyed the most outta high school 'cos I didn't have much time to catch up with all of them so being at school gave me a chance to spend time with them all."

Kevin
"If I could tell the teachers one thing I 'd say treat every student the same because as a kid that wasn't the same as everyone else, it was hard to stay focused and concentrate."

Madison
"Teachers already know I'm an angry kid so they like to belive it's all my fault anyway."

Natalie
"I'm a counsellor, youth worker and chaplain at a local high school. I've been doing this for about five and a half ears. I was initally attracted to the school system to create positive change and get outcomes beacuse I was tired of seeing young people in the welfare system repeatedly missing out on access to appropriate education."

Paul
"In retrospect I didn't learn as much academic stuff at my school as I wanted to, but I learnt heaps about the social and commmunity values. So for me it would have been great to do both."

Sarah
"They new I had no father
But I had a mother that loved mwah!
They said I had a big nose
And teased me when I wore unfashionable clothes."

Walid
"Don't forget that we all come from different families and not perfect families. Not having parents and living in resi can be hard. Plesae understand us, support us."