Police attend a family violence incident every seven minutes
Police attend a family violence incident every seven minutes
The bruises may have faded but the memory of an abusive relationship continues to leave a lasting impression on family violence survivor Lynda.
Lynda was in an on-off relationship with Brandon for 14-and-a-half years and during that time she endured numerous physical and psychological beatings from the man she loved.
One of the most severe physical assaults left Lynda with a brain injury. It took her nine months to recover.
“This attack just came out of the blue and all I remember was his fist flying through the air and I woke up on the floor.”
Hard times
The extreme stress of the relationship led to Lynda suffering from severe depression, which swallowed up her work and social commitments.
During Lynda’s darkest days, her daughter banned her from seeing her beloved grandchildren.
“Her telling me that she couldn’t trust the children would be safe was definitely a turning point for me.
It was also one of the saddest parts of my life.” “It really was a wake-up call,” she said.
A year and a half ago, Lynda summoned up the courage to leave Brandon.
“It isn’t always easy but I just take it one day at a time. I am definitely starting to feel like myself again though - a happy, social and out-going person,” she said.
Becoming a statistic
Despite her ordeal, Lynda could be considered one of the lucky ones, as each year 14 women, six men and 10 children are killed as a result of family violence in New Zealand.
In 2009, 38 homicides were family violence related. Police attend around 200 family violence situations a day – one every seven minutes.
These are very sobering statistics when you consider that approximately only 15% of family violence cases are reported to police.
Police acting National Violence Co-ordinator Inspector Brigitte Nimmo said family violence incidents are consistently the most dangerous situations Police attend.
“The problem is far reaching and to think we only hear about 15% of it is frightening,” she said.
It’s not ok
Since the introduction of the high profile It’s Not Ok television campaign in 2007, Police, along with other agencies such as Women’s Refuge, Child Youth and Family (CYF), The Salvation Army and Victim Support, say there has been an increase in reported family violence cases.
It’s Not Ok Project Manager, Stephanie Edmond, said the main purpose of the campaign was to get people talking and take action against family violence.
“We wanted to make sure it wasn’t just a private issue anymore, and what we found was that people wanted to get help or wanted to do something to help but didn’t know how.
“So what we decided was to get communities to come up with tailor-made projects, which would allow them to address family violence in their region.
These have been incredibly successful and we have sponsored 147 projects like this around the country.
It’s all about community ownership,” she said. The Taskforce for Action on Violence Within Families, which advises the Government on family violence issues, initiated the programme.
The Ministry of Social Development and the Families Commission are in charge of the campaign with the support of Police and the Accident Compensation Commission (ACC).
The cost
Although most agencies working in the area say the It’s Not Ok campaign has encouraged people to talk about family violence, most agree the problem is bigger than many people want to believe.
“People need to see that New Zealand has a serious problem with family violence,” Salvation Army Assistant National Manager for addictions and supportive accommodation, Major Graham Rattray, said.
“It is something which needs to be taken more seriously,” he added.
Christchurch Women’s Refuge CEO, Annette Gillespie, voiced similar concerns.
“The cost of family violence impacts on lots of areas in society including medical facilities, the justice system, the business community, social services and Police.
“Further impacts include truancy, suicide, homicide, mental health e.g. anxiety, depression, pet abuse, benefit fraud, self-medication, alcohol and drugs,” Ms Gillespie said.
In terms of the actual economic cost to society a 1994 study entitled The New Zealand Economic Cost of Family Violence put the bill at $1.2 to $5.8 billion.
Based on that study, the cost today would be approximately $8 billion.
Each year, Police alone spend $3.9 million on homicide inquiries related to family violence.
The forgotten victims
One of the biggest costs of family violence is the impact it has on the children who witness it.
In fact, last year 70% of child abuse cases were also family violence-related, Police sources told Police News.
Just over half of all family violence cases attended by police involve children being present.
Last year alone, 74,785 children and young people aged under-17 were present at family violence situations.
“The impact family violence has on children is profound. There have been a lot of studies which show that children who witness family violence have a higher chance of juvenile delinquency and young adult criminality, and also a higher chance of future victimisation,” Inspector Nimmo said.
Other impacts include shock, confusion, psychosomatic distress, low social competence, poor self-esteem, reducing learning ability and being fearful, unsettled and distrusting of others.
Research on the subject has also found that witnessing family violence can lead victims to be abusive in their own relationships.
Save the children
CYF work closely with Police on reporting and investigating child abuse in relation to family violence.
“Our paramount consideration when we receive a notification of alleged abuse is the safety and wellbeing of the child,” a CYF spokesperson said.
In 2006, CYF, Police and other agencies established the Family Violence Inter-Agency Response System (FVIARS).
The system focuses on a collaborative case management approach to respond to incidents of family violence, where children are present, that police are called out to.
All cases are taken to FVIARS meetings where key response agencies, CYFS and Police assess and prioritise cases and develop case and safety plans. It is through this process that the underlying causes of family violence and safety of those concerned can best be addressed.
Fueling the problem
Other aggravating factors, which are common to family violence situations, are drugs and or alcohol consumption/abuse.
Police statistics confirm that alcohol is a factor in approximately 34% of all family violence incidents.
New Zealand Drug Foundation CEO, Ross Bell, said the correlation between alcohol and family violence is strong.
“We have a big problem with alcohol in this country and I think it is a well known fact that drink fuels family violence.”
Ms Gillespie is in no doubt as to the extent substance abuse plays in fueling family violence.
“We see that frequently – these issues don’t happen in isolation,” she said.
Spokesperson for the National Network of Stopping Violence Services, Brian Gardner, believes domestic violence levels in New Zealand would drop significantly if recent recommendations by the Law Commission’s report Alcohol In Our Lives – Curbing The Harm were adopted.
“Alcohol increases the likelihood and seriousness of domestic violence, so any step to reduce alcohol consumption would make a significant impact,” he said.
Kathryn Lawlor, Auckand Victim Support’s District Manager, wants to see an increase in resources to deal with the growing problem of family violence.
“We have definitely noticed an increase in the problem over the last 10 years, especially when it comes to the drug P.
Because of this fact, instead of dealing with just family violence we now have to deal with alcohol and drug dependencies, which means we are having to get extra help to deal with this.
“A lot of the time though there is just not enough resources around to deal with this issue,” Ms Lawlor said.
Lobbying for change
Earlier this year, a lobby group made up of survivors of domestic violence called It’s STILL Not Ok put together a discussion paper on their experiences in dealing with Government agencies once they had left an abusive relationship.
The group’s discussion paper outlined the difficulties they faced when dealing with these agencies, as well as society’s attitude toward domestic violence victims.
“Society does not want to know about domestic violence so it is very difficult for us as victims to openly explain our experiences,” group spokesperson Lisa Close said.
“We are often shut down as society does not feel it is something which should be discussed.
This leaves victims feeling uncomfortable and ashamed.”
The group offered recommendations to the Justice sector, Inland Revenue, Police, Social Development, Work and Income and Child Youth and Family, the Health sector, The Commissioner for Children, Women’s Affairs and Immigration in order to facilitate better understanding of the barriers they face.
Recommendations
Here are some of the group’s recommendations for the main parties concerned:
Justice – Make the court process more user friendly, and wipe the cost of obtaining a protection order.
Inland Revenue – Acknowledge the power conferred on IRD to protect victims from economic abuse under the Domestic Violence Act 1995. Make the non-custodial parent more accountable when it comes to paying child support.
Police – Be more transparent in its approach to dealing with domestic violence by explaining the conditions and processes of a protection order.
Social Development – Provide better education around what encompasses family violence by including domestic violence on child and economic abuse in the It’s Not Ok campaign. Provide more domestic violence training for government staff. work and income – Investigate the impact of benefit stand down periods for victims of domestic violence.
Child Youth and Family – Provide more support systems for victims by providing clear literature, which describes CYF’s role in the lives of victims and their children.
Health – Make sure the safety of victims of domestic violence is followed up and maintained once they have been identified by the Health sector.
Future plans
Police have recently published a new Family Violence Policy for Police, which models working in partnership with community and others to address family violence.
In addition, Police Safety Orders, which come into effect on 1 July 2010, will provide Police with an additional tool, and support agencies with a further opportunity to provide support to families engaged in family violence.
Police are also involved with CYF, the Ministry of Justice and other key agencies to develop a National Response Model for Family Violence in New Zealand.
Research has included looking at the Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conference (MARAC) model, which is widely used in the United Kingdom.
The main objectives of that model are to gather detailed and relevant information which can be shared with other agencies, identify those who will need more intensive support and make agencies aware of the most dangerous offenders.
Some aspects of that model may well be adopted in New Zealand. Inspector Nimmo says that everyone has a role in reducing the incidence and severity of family violence. Community, government and non-government agencies all need to work together to address the underlying causes of family violence, protect those most at risk and hold offenders accountable.
