Children’s Week event shines light on family violence
Hosted by The Sexual Assault & Family Violence Centre (SAFV) in partnership with Meli, CatholicCare Victoria (CCV), and Barwon Area Integrated Family Violence.
The screening of the Unanswered Calls documentary by Safe Steps this week, brought together advocates, victim survivors and service providers in Geelong to shed light on the experiences of the youngest victim survivors of family violence – young people.
Hosted by The Sexual Assault & Family Violence Centre (SAFV), Meli, CatholicCare Victoria (CCV), and Barwon Area Integrated Family Violence as part of Children’s Week, the event created a safe space for important discussions and reflection.
The film offered the audience a glimpse into the experience of two family violence survivors and featured several industry professionals, who highlighted the gaps in the sector and how we can better support children and young people.
After the screening, CCV Senior Manager or Family Law Services, Kathryn Lyons shared her reflections and highlighted the need to ask simple questions when working with children affected by family violence.
“We often overlook the most important questions – what do you need? Are you safe? How have you been impacted? We need to design programs that give children what they need, not what we think they need,” Kathryn said.
A diverse panel brought together professionals and advocates with lived experience, including Jessie, Kelly, Julie, JoyLee and Laura, who each spoke to the importance of education, early intervention and being informed by children.
“We need to do better at educating kids about what family violence looks like,” said JoyLee, Counsellor at SAFV. “Children need to understand what’s safe, what’s not, and what healthy relationships look like.”
Julie, Case Manager at Meli echoed this, calling on practitioners to also educate the broader community to be able to identify warning signs.
Kelly shared his perspective as both a survivor and a practitioner working with male perpetrators. “When working with perpetrators, there a real (inability) to emotionally regulate and a lack of respect for themselves or women.” He also emphasised that both children and adults are resilient, and he believes people can change and learn new behaviours.
Jessie, a victim survivor also highlighted the importance of prevention and early intervention, addressing toxic social norms and misogyny, and said this is where real change can happen.
With 42,000 children currently in out-of-home care and 9,000 young people in Victoria waiting for foster homes, the urgency of prevention and support has never been clearer.
“We need to meet (children) where they’re at. Services need to get more innovative in how we reach young people. It’s an adult service and we have to be accessible to children,” Laura, who works at Safe Steps and helped design the MARAM framework said.
Joy Lee agreed, suggesting that support services should be embedded directly into spaces where children already are, including schools, sports clubs, and community hubs.
The event was a powerful reminder to truly listen and amplify the voices of children and young people, collaborate widely to provide wraparound services and act early.
Family Services
We offer a range of family support services, that address the unique needs of families and children, through tailored and essential support.
Reach out to us if you’re unsure about the service that’s right for you on 1800 123 228.
