Building Safer Communities in Domestic Violence and Their Families - Term Paper Example

BUILDING SAFER COMMUNITIES IN DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AND THEIR FAMILIES Name Grade Course Tutor’s Name Date Safe relationship in the society is a crucial element towards mutual coexistence. Various lobby groups have come up to develop safe relationships among family members, as well as the community at large. Family violence normally occurs on different circumstances in a family setting (Friend, Jo & Trish 2008, p. 5). The violence can take the form of abuse of the elderly, and the children, violence between same sex couples or adolescent children being violent towards the parent. Different communities have developed myths that justify violence in society (Domestic Violence Resource Centre 2007). Myth such as domestic violence is not the burden of the community. Another controversial myth is that domestic violence only happens to poor families and that abuse of alcohol and drugs supplement domestic violence. Some community believe that domestic problem is a personal problem between husband and wife (Domestic Violence Resource Centre 2007). With the increase of domestic violence in the world, there is much need to establish a group program that will promote safe relationship and prevent the gender based violence in society. The types of violence that group will specialise on is the adolescence violence (Friend, Jo & Trish 2008, p. 5). This type of violence has various categories such as physical, financial, emotional, psychological and verbal. The group hopes to receive resources from the family violence funding body. The group reveals the strength and opportunity given to the community once the group begins its activity of restoring safe relationship. Preventing the family violence will have a positive impact not only to the family members but also to the society as a whole. The group has outlined some of the main signs to observe in a family member. Signs that are more prominent are; social isolation, psychological torment emotional breakdown and living in fear. The action group has a mandate to make financing bodies to be responsible for the communities being represented in the region. Building a Safer Community When developing safer environment for relationships in the society there are several key issues that should be put in place. For instance, when fostering respectful relationships among the young people and children, it is essential to begin the initiative at an early age (Kempster 2010, p. 3). In order to achieve a lasting cordial relationship, an action group by the name, Brisbane Initiative Group for Safer Communities has come up with a program that ought to set up norms and relations which will shun violence and conflict (Kempster 2010, p. 11). This initiative will deal with this devastating issue of violence and abuse in the community. This will ensure a safe future as well as beneficial environment for the society. This service provider will operate under the community service act 2007 (Queensland Government Department of Communities n.d.a). In addition, assessing common risk to the safe environment is also highly crucial. This assessment will entail looking through to factors that lead to violence in the community. Most specifically family violence will be scrutinised. Other risks include financial constraint to handle the project. Moreover, several multilevel risk factors are associated with family violence cut across parents, family, and child. The parentage risk factors include young age, single parenthood, low education attainment, inadequate parental care and skills (Alice Springs Town Camps Taskforce 2006, p. 64). The family is faced with risk factors such as poor socio-economic status, overcrowded living condition and alcohol and substance abuse by certain members of the family. The society is also faced risk factors such as social inequalities, acceptance of violence and unenforced laws (Alice Springs Town Camps Taskforce 2006, p. 64). Some societies have been blamed for fuelling family violence by allowing such acts to be part of their norms and culture. Strong interference of culture will also be assessed and solution on how not to conflict with the program be attained. With the anecdotal evidence showing that there is a worrying increase in cases of adolescence violence, this initiative group decided to take up the task to eliminate this trend in Brisbane (Friend, Jo & Trish 2008, p. 4). Most of the cases that have been reported nationally were perpetrated to parents and carers by the children. These children are normally approaching their teen age. This action group will tend to find the cause of this sudden behaviour from the children. After assessing the cause, the group initiates a program that involves the children and the parent as well. This program will enable parents to be enlightened on how to approach such a case in the family. The children will also enrol in this program to receive professional help and counselling. In addition, parents will get knowledge on how to identify violent behaviours exhibited by children. Parents who will undertake the program will get strategies for dealing with such behaviours in the family (Friend, Jo & Trish 2008, p. 4). Support services will be available through out for both parents and the teenage children. This program will be initiated among the indigenous communities in Queensland Australia. Communities that have recoded high rates of domestic and family violence recently include Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander 2006). The action group program formulated is aimed at transforming the young individuals in the society most probably the adolescent children. The targeted community is people of Brisbane region in Queensland. The key opportunity for this action group is to enable a wide network of members from Brisbane region of Queensland to access consultations and meetings that will foster harmony within the community (Kempster 2010, p. 16). This will assist in keeping the community informed on forums undertaken as well as outcomes of meetings. Nurturing the young generation to foster harmony and mutual coexistence in the community will help to develop relationships between the parents and children and at the same time, the teenagers will sharpen their social norms attitudes and behaviour. The adolescent stage is perceived by most parents as the most difficult time of growth for most children (Friend, Jo & Trish 2008, p. 8). The adolescent kids will develop diverse attitudes and beliefs. The action group will seal the opportunity to educate and build respective skills among these teenagers. The aims and objective of this action group are; develop assertive behaviour and communication among the teenagers, raise awareness of an unhealthy relationship in the community, promote self-protection and safety and increase awareness of violent related issues in society. These objectives seek to build confidence among the young generation and raise their self-esteem. In order to meet the goals the action group ought to access necessary resources (Alice Springs Town Camps Taskforce 2006, p. 64). Having set objectives and aims for this action group program, getting stakeholders on board is the next vital step. These stakeholders include, media companies to highlight the progress and create awareness, funding organisations, humanitarian organisations, the NGOs human rights lobby groups and the government (Kempster 2010, p. 3). This will ensure that reported cases of family violence are highlighted nationally and acted upon swiftly. These stakeholders play different but crucial roles in ensuring Brisbane is a safe environment for the indigenous communities. The funding organisations are much expected to contribute heavily towards this initiative (Queensland Government Department of Communities n.d.b). In the recent past domestic and, family support have pledged to offered financial assistance to action groups. One of the funding groups is Brisbane Regional Domestic and Family Violence Service. This funding organisation issues a total of $806,068 per annum to programs that initiate family violence prevention (Queensland Government Department of Communities n.d.b). In addition to the stakeholders, the initiative group is seeking partnership with groups that share similar themes and ambitions towards prevention violence in society. The group has sent proposals to centre against sexual assault (CASA), Time for Youth initiative, among other community service groups in the region for partnerships. Brisbane Initiative Group is eyeing to be awarded funding support from the allocated funds (Queensland Government Department of Communities n.d.b). The action group has proven to have the specialists in counselling and support program, has promoted prevention of family violence, hold the best risk and quality assessment of the regions indigenous communities and leads in development of coordinated response to domestic and family violence at the local level. Furthermore, the pilot project of the respectful relationship education that was carried out in selected schools was highly appreciated (Kempster 2010, p. 31). All these qualities put the group at a better position to be granted the financial support. The main framework of this program is to prevent the conflict before it occurs. The meetings and forums will be held in schools mainly to allow the children maintain the learning environment as they pursue the program (Kempster 2010, p. 15). Respectful relationships education will be carried out comprehensively by focusing on critical topics such as intimate and family relationships, sexual violence between a boyfriend and girlfriend, and coexistence among family members. The main criteria for the whole program will revolve around effective curriculum delivery, relevance inclusive and cultural practices and impact evaluation. The activities and knowledge impacted on the young minds of these teenagers continues to strengthen the efforts of this framework. The action group is looking forward to more schools collaborating with the initiative enable the growth of local commitment towards peaceful coexistence. Adolescence violence is perceived to cause physical psychological and financial damage in the family so as for an individual either the teenage or parent to get control of the situation. Most of adolescence violence is usually directed to mothers, fathers and carers (Friend, Jo & Trish 2008, p. 5). The main cause of such behaviour from the children may be attributed to them being exposed to abusive scenes in the family. Violence depicted by parents instils a traumatic experience to the children. Other contributory factors are adolescence mental health or drug and alcohol abuse. Apart from the school programs, there is also the school nursing program and the youth service programs. These two frameworks will see to it that the victims of family violence receive adequate counselling and guidance towards full recovery. Background information about the initiative The initiative group has come up with the program ‘Building a Safer Community’. This program advocates fro prevention of family and domestic violence. The program framework aims to strengthen children relationships among themselves and their parents and guardians in the community. It aims to assist the children develop strategies to tackle violence within the society (Kempster 2010, p. 2). The target age of the framework is young children and teenagers from the age of 9 years to 19 years. This program will run for 8 weeks within the education curriculum. A single session of the program will entail 45 minutes. The initiative will be applied in both primary and secondary schools. Materials used in the program are forums, meetings, guidance and counselling report and journals from previous programs held worldwide (Kempster 2010, p. 7). Apart from the resources, teachers and counsellors will train the youngsters on prevention skills. They will also impart knowledge on costs of family violence to the education and society. Apart from the teacher student training, parents will also have a chance to attend strong parenting program that is delivered in line with the school program. Other organisation such as Community Justice Group will also be invited to offer talks. Special sessions and events such as health days in the community will be a perfect opportunity to extend the counselling services to the society. The framework of the program will also assess the community and identify cases of family violence. Measuring the violence and abuse in the indigenous communities will entail, getting reported cases from the police, children behaviour during play times and social interaction will also be evaluated to determine those that are victims of family violence. Teenagers who are exposed to family victims usually exhibit signs such as violent character, poor social behaviour and depression (Friend, Jo & Trish 2008, p. 6). These signs and warnings of family violence in the community will assist the action group to determine the best criteria to use to counsel and help the victim. Most of the children evaluation will be to determine the supervision the kid gets from the parent and level of personal autonomy. The participants in this program will be engaged in several activities. The students will be grouped into small groups to enable them to carry out the activities swiftly (Kempster 2010, p. 23). The activities to be carried out are tailored to meet the needs of the targeted client group. For instance, young girls will be given tasks that will seek to promote their self-esteem and empowerment. The activities are based on experimental and reflective learning. Examples of these activities are games and plays that enhance social abilities and promote healthy relationship and friendship. Forums will also be part of the engagement activities to help victims open up. The training lessons carried out in schools will emphasise on respect, equality and enjoyment. The students will develop crucial skills to deal with difficult situations. The pilot program helped the action group to evaluate the framework of the program. The result of the evaluation led to the modification and improvement of the program. The evaluations will continue as the initiative continues. The students, staff and trainers, will be provided with feedback sheets at the end of the program curriculum. This will give room for further internal evaluation. Parents and guardians will be interviewed, and their feedback gathered as well to pitch external evaluation (Kempster 2010, p. 29). Positive feedback from teachers indicates that the information provided by this initiative has assisted the young people in their well being and interactions. After successive funding and official launch of the program, the initiative group hopes to use evidence-based approaches and models to enhance the framework. One of the approaches is the human right approach where the action group intends to the commission in its program. This approach recognises that every person in the community is entitled to life safety with dignity. This model will also ensure that participants in the program will enjoy their right of equality and healthy relationship and interaction (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander 2006). In addition, the model will ensure a holistic address of causes and consequences that lead to family violence. The element of this human right approach has strategies that empower focuses on participation of the client groups. Participation is monitored and evaluated to see if the program reduces disparity. The approach includes bottom-up and top-down approaches in synergy. Apart from the human right approach, the group also will community education and development approach. This model promotes legal obligation and rights for individuals (Aboriginal Healing Foundation 2006, p. 5). Through the model, the participant will be able to tap into information services for further support. This will promote anti violence messages across the community. Furthermore, the elders in the community will enforce new laws in the culture (Aboriginal Healing Foundation 2006, p. 6). Community education will highlight types of violence such as child sexual abuse, adolescence violence and other detrimental effects that face the community. Since the program targets indigenous communities, it will be prudent to have the community education for those who are unfortunate to understand English. In the recent past, the government has been addressing the violence issue but only a few individual get the message. For instance, the general, Aboriginal population do not understand English (Aboriginal Healing Foundation 2006, p. 6). Having this resource at their disposal, it will disseminate the information in aboriginal, local language to a wider target population. The approach urges the government to implement a mandatory training for teachers and professionals among school staff to undertake local language training. This will be a perfect platform for the model to provide competent workers for the initiative program. High profile Aboriginal men and women provide positive, proactive leadership and talks on prevention of family violence. This will set appropriate community norms and behaviour (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander 2006). The strategic models will be supplemented by campaigns such as the Koora the Kangaroo Violence Prevention Campaign (Kempster 2010, p. 29). This campaign has been acknowledged nationally as the best school based antiviolence campaign (‘Indigenous Communities Dealing’ 2007, p. 39). Another event that the community has engaged in is the Mawul Rom Project where training was offered to the entire community on blending traditional and contemporary dispute resolution (‘Indigenous Communities Dealing’ 2007, p. 44). These programs share similar goals as the ones carried out by the initiative group. The program recognises indigenous people and responds to the needs of the individuals in the community. They also build community knowledge and strengthen partnership with government as well as community service groups. The role model groups of this initiative are all the successful groups such as the Victorian women’s trust, Glastonbury child and family service and time for youth. These groups have performed tremendously in the struggle for prevention against family violence (‘Indigenous Communities Dealing’ 2007, p. 18). They have activities that have promoted group development working together and sharing responsibilities. Some of the activities include surfing program, high challenge activities like giant swing and high ropes. Those who seem to give up are usually given encouragement not to quit. The motivation given to participants ensures that everyone finishes the program. The evaluation made on these mentor groups showed that up to 90% of the young participants were impacted positively (Kempster 2010, p. 19). They all had a change in their attitudinal approach towards their parents’ teachers and guardians. However, much observation still needs to be put in place to initiate clear motivation and collaboration between these groups. The regional strength of knowledge and action plan for violence prevention has taken a notch higher. All that is left is to improve the possibilities and opportunities to strengthen the prevention actions that are in place (Friend, Jo & Trish 2008, p. 15). The Brisbane Initiative Group meets all the regulations set up by the government under community service act. This makes the initiative program legible to receive funds from the department of community and other funding organisation in order to make the program a success (Queensland Government Department of Communities n.d.b). The long-term objective of this initiative group is to assist schools in understanding family violence. The action group provides the program overview to teaching staff in schools in opportune time, to enable them be at a better position in going through the students’ notes and handouts. The program also enhances the capacity of the teachers and parents to respond to issues concerning family violence at the society (Friend, Jo & Trish 2008, p. 18). The result of this initiative will be the increased knowledge among young people to refuse unhealthy relationship and decrease in number of victims of family violence. This will have transformed the entire Brisbane region to a safe community. References Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, 2006. ‘Ending family violence and abuse in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities: Key issues’, HREOC. Aboriginal Healing Foundation, 2006, ‘Final Report of the Aboriginal Healing Foundation’, Promising Healing Practices in Aboriginal Communities, Vol. 3, pp. 5-6. Alice Springs Town Camps Taskforce, 2006, ‘Alice Springs Town Camps Review Taskforce Report 2006’, Department of Local Government, Housing and Sport, pp. 64. Domestic Violence Resource Centre, 2007, Myths and Facts, viewed 28 September 2012, http://www.dvrc.org.au/index.php?action=view&view=33163 Friend, D, Jo, H & Trish P 2008, ‘Adolescent Violence to Parents: A resource booklet for parents and carers’, Inner South Community Health Service, pp. 1-20, viewed 28 September 2012, http://www.ischs.org.au/Portals/0/Documents/Adolescent%20Violence%20to%20Parents.pdf ‘Indigenous Communities Dealing with Family Violence and Abuse: Recognising ‘Promising Practice’ And Learning from Achievements’ 2007, Social justice report p, pp.7-195. Kempster, M 2010, Promoting Safe and Respectful Relationships Regional Schools Family Violence Project, pp.1-41. Queensland Government Department of Communities, n.d., Approved Service Providers viewed 28 September 2012, http://www.communities.qld.gov.au/gateway/funding-and-grants/approved-service-providers Queensland Government Department of Communities, n.d., Funding available, viewed 28 September 2012, http://www.communities.qld.gov.au/gateway/funding-and-grants/funding-available Read More