| Aboriginal | While acknowledging the diversity of Aboriginal people in Australia, the term ‘Aboriginal’ has been used to refer to all people of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent. |
| Adolescent Family Violence Program | Provides family-based case management to young people using violence in the family to reduce violence and increase the safety of family members. The program is targeted at young people aged 12 to 17 years and their families. It is funded by the Victorian Government in three areas (Ballarat, Barwon and the Mornington Peninsula). |
| Affected family member | A person who has experienced family violence, also known as a victim survivor. The term is predominantly used in police and court proceedings to refer to the person to be protected by a family violence intervention order. |
| Applicant | A person who applies for a family violence intervention order. This can be a Victoria Police member applying on behalf of the affected family member. |
| Central Information Point | Provides timely information to support effective risk assessment and management of perpetrators of family violence. Enabled by the Family Violence Information Sharing Scheme, it brings together representatives from Court Services Victoria, Victoria Police, Corrections Victoria and the former Department of Health and Human Services to consolidate critical information about perpetrators of family violence into a single report. Reports can currently be requested by The Orange Door network and some Risk Assessment and Management Panels. |
| Child Information Sharing Scheme | Established in legislation, the scheme provides for sharing of information among authorised organisations to support child wellbeing or safety, including within (but not limited to) family violence contexts. |
| Counselling order | An order that requires a male respondent to attend a men’s behaviour change program. Counselling orders can be made by magistrates at Specialist Family Violence Courts. If a respondent does not comply with a counselling order they can be charged with a criminal offence. The program began operating in January 2020. |
| Duty lawyer | Publicly funded legal aid lawyer ‘on duty’ at courts and tribunals to provide free advice and representation for people attending a court hearing who do not have their own lawyer. |
| Family Safety Victoria | An administrative office of the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing (comprising some portfolio responsibilities of the former Department of Health and Human Services) with dedicated responsibility for delivering key elements of the family violence reform. This includes the Family Violence Information Sharing Scheme, The Orange Door network and the Family Violence Multi-Agency Risk Assessment and Management reforms. |
| Family Violence Information Sharing Scheme | Established in legislation, the scheme enables sharing of information between authorised organisations to support the assessment and management of family violence risk. |
| Family violence intervention order | A court-issued order to protect people from further family violence. |
| Family Violence Investigation Units | Established in each police division, the 31 units investigate serious family violence matters and support general duties police and other specialist units on appropriate risk management interventions to increase safety for adult and child victims. |
| Family Violence Multi- Agency Risk Assessment and Management (MARAM) Framework |
A framework to support the identification, assessment and management of family violence risk. A range of organisations are required by law, under the Family Violence Protection Act 2008, to align their practices and policies with MARAM, which replaced the former common risk assessment framework or ‘CRAF’. The MARAM Framework is supported by operational practice guidance and risk identification, screening and assessment tools. |
| Family Violence Principal Practitioner |
Positions established in the former Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Education and Training and the Department of Justice and Community Safety to develop family violence practice and knowledge and provide leadership across their departments. The positions support implementation of key initiatives such as the Information Sharing Scheme and the Family Violence Multi-Agency Risk Assessment and Management Framework. |
| Family Violence Reform Interdepartmental Committee | The committee responsible for leading cross-government engagement and providing oversight and governance for the implementation and delivery of family violence reform. Representatives include the reform’s key implementing agencies. |
| Family Violence Regional Integration Committees | Committees established in 2006 in each of the then 14 Department of Human Services’ areas. Their purpose is to improve the integration of services that respond to family violence at the local level, drive workforce development, and act as a conduit between specialist family violence and other providers in local areas. |
| Family violence safety notice | A police-issued notice that provides immediate protection for a person from a family member who is using family violence before an intervention order application is heard in court. |
| Flexible Support Packages | Tailored assistance packages for victims survivors experiencing family violence. Packages can include rental and mortgage subsidies and assistance with the costs of accessing counselling, education, employment and other services to support housing stability and financial security. |
| LGBTIQ | An inclusive initialism that refers to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer people. |
| Other party | A Victoria Police term used to describe an alleged perpetrator of family violence in a family violence incident. |
| Personal Safety Initiative | A non-crisis response to support women experiencing family violence to remain safely in their own homes. It provides professional advice on modifications to property and use of technology to increase security and safety, and case management support. |
| Respectful Relationships | A primary prevention education initiative that supports government, Catholic and independent schools and early childhood settings to promote and model respect, positive attitudes and behaviours. Respectful Relationships education was introduced as a core component of the Victorian curriculum in 2016. |
| Respondent | A court term used to describe the accused against whom legal proceedings have been brought by the applicant. In cases involving family violence intervention order applications, the respondent is the alleged perpetrator. |
| Risk Assessment and Management Panels | Formally and regularly convened meetings of key agencies and organisations in local service areas that manage the highest risk family violence cases. The panels develop coordinated action plans to address serious and imminent threats to an individual’s life, health, safety or welfare. There are 18 panels operating across Victoria. |
| Royal Commission into Family Violence | Established in 2015 the Commission was tasked with finding ways to prevent family violence, improve support for victim survivors and hold perpetrators to account. The Royal Commission provided its report, which included 227 recommendations, to the Victorian Government on 29 March 2016. |
| Safe at Home | A range of interventions aimed at helping victim survivors to safely remain in, or return to, their homes and communities. The approach aims to mitigate the risk of homelessness and the safety impacts of family violence and put responsibility for leaving the family home on the perpetrator of the violence. Safe at Home responses in Victoria include the Personal Safety Initiative and Flexible Support Packages. |
| Specialist Family Violence Advisors | Established in each of the 17 Department of Health (formerly Department of Health and Human Services) areas, these roles are intended to increase access to specialist family violence skills as well as supporting the development of local capability and resources across mental health, alcohol and other drug and family violence services across Victoria. |
| Specialist Family Violence Courts | Specialist courts that provide enhanced safety features including separate entrances for victim survivors and remote hearing facilities. Specialist Family Violence Courts are staffed by specially trained magistrates and court staff, partner agencies and other court-based services to deliver a coordinated response. Magistrates at Specialist Family Violence Courts have powers to mandate counselling orders for perpetrators. |
| Support and Safety Hubs | A network of local access points across Victoria recommended by the Royal Commission into Family Violence to better support victim survivors in accessing services. The public branding of the Support and Safety Hubs is The Orange Door (see also ‘The Orange Door’). |
| The Orange Door | A network that is the entry point to women’s and children’s family violence services, services for men who use violence and family services. It undertakes triage to assess and manage risk and connect people to the services they need. |
| Therapeutic interventions | Facilitated by a professional practitioner, an action designed to improve an individual’s health and wellbeing as a result of family violence trauma. Intervention responses include group sessions, family work, individual counselling, coaching and ongoing peer support, with the long-term goal of rebuilding self-esteem and confidence and reducing social isolation. |
| Tilting Our Practice | A family violence theoretical framework that outlines the shift in practice required by child protection practitioners to effectively apply a family violence lens to their work with families experiencing family violence. The framework and accompanying Tilting Our Practice resource have informed training for all child protection staff. |
| Universal services/systems | Services provided to the whole community regardless of socioeconomic status — for example, public health services and public education. |
| Victim survivor | A person who has experienced domestic, family or sexual violence. |
| Victim Survivors’ Advisory Council | Formed in July 2016, the council was established to include people with lived experience of family violence in the service design of the family violence reform. |
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