Practice guide No. 3
Comprehensive assessment
Practice guide No.3
Comprehensive assessment
Practice guide No. 3: Comprehensive assessment has been designed to assist specialist family violence
professionals working with women and children who are victims of family violence. Comprehensive
assessment requires enhanced client engagement skills and detailed safety planning and case management
responses. Such professionals will generally be qualified in welfare, social work, psychology, counselling or
family therapy, or have significant experience in the family violence field including expertise in conducting
complex assessments.
Maternal and child health nurses, general practitioners, teachers and other health care providers should refer to
Practice guide No. 1: Identifying family violence. Other professionals such as police, court staff, and members of
community legal services, community health centres and disability and housing services should refer to Practice
guide No. 2: Preliminary assessment.
The risk assessments outlined in all practice guides combine three elements to determine the level of risk:
1. the victim’s own assessment of their level of risk
2. evidence-based risk indicators, and
3. the practitioner’s professional judgement.
Making the comprehensive assessment
The comprehensive assessment must consider the needs of any children involved and the victim’s level of fear. The
assessment must also adopt a culturally sensitive approach and be undertaken professionally and responsibly. The
victim’s safety, comfort and wellbeing are paramount during the assessment.
The assessment must also categorise the level of risk, provide details of risk management plans and record the
assessment.
The practice approach
The practice approach to working with victims of family violence needs to be informed by a sophisticated
understanding of the victim’s experience of the violence, their relationship with the perpetrator, other significant
family relationships and the impact of the violence on daily functioning. At the time of assessment and from the
moment of engagement, the victim will be making their own assessment about how much information to disclose.
The full extent of the violence a victim is experiencing is more likely to be disclosed if the victim feels they have
support. Victims also need to be able to articulate their own assessment of their personal circumstances, which may
include issues about their lifestyle and financial position, their relationship with the perpetrator and with their children,
the children’s relationship with the perpetrator, their emotional reactions to the perpetrator, and their assessment of
their own risk and safety and that of their children’s in relation to the perpetrator.
Specialist family violence service providers must have a common understanding of family violence, its impact
on family members, the role it plays in traumatising the individuals and relationships within families, and be
familiar with all appropriate referral pathways.
54
Service providers must conduct the assessment in a way that ensures the victim:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
feels (and is) safe enough to have a conversation about the issues
has their basic needs for food, fluids, privacy and childcare met
is able to communicate and be understood appropriately
has an advocate or support person present if desired and appropriate
is being engaged in a culturally sensitive manner
is clear about the responsibilities of the professional making the assessment, and
is comfortable with the person making the assessment and that a rapport has been established.
Rapport building
The assessor must establish a rapport with the victim by fully explaining their role and responsibility within the
organisation and by introducing the risk assessment process in a sensitive way. It may take more than one meeting
for rapport to be established. It is important, therefore, for risk assessment to be a continual process that is revisited
at subsequent meetings, if they occur. It is also important to understand that victims may be more willing to disclose
some things to professionals not associated with the law (police and court staff) because of fears of a criminal justice
response if illegal activity is disclosed.
Victim safety and wellbeing
Ascertaining that the victim feels safe enough to proceed with the interview is a first step towards creating an
environment in which rapport can be established. Asking about the perpetrator’s current whereabouts will help to
determine immediate safety levels for both the victim and the professional making the assessment. If an immediate
threat is anticipated and the perpetrator’s whereabouts are unknown, safety arrangements need to be made at an
agency level, which may include conducting the interview in a secure environment, arranging for security or other
suitable personnel to be available to prevent the perpetrator entering the premises, or relocating the victim to a safer
environment.
Consideration of the immediate needs of the victim will help them to participate more fully in the assessment
process. The victim may have suffered great stress or a highly critical and traumatising event and may not have had
a chance to have appropriate food or fluids. They may also need to make care arrangements for children or other
dependent adults and contact friends or family to let them know where they are. Food, water, and access to a
telephone and other support should be provided if appropriate and if available throughout the assessment process.
Victims with a cognitive disability will need to be offered regular breaks. In non-crisis situations, the interview process
should start only when the victim is ready, the approach should be conversational and at a pace comfortable for the
victim. The victim should also be allowed to discontinue at any time if they become traumatised.
Communication requirements
Where the victim has a disability that affects communication, their preferred communication method must be
ascertained. If the victim is unable to communicate their preference, all attempts must be made to contact someone
close to the victim (but not the perpetrator, who may also be in a carer role) who can advise the assessor
accordingly. Victims from a culturally and linguistically diverse background must be offered the use of an interpreter
from an accredited interpreting provider. Using friends or family as an interpreter is not appropriate unless the
situation is urgent and the victim indicates that they are comfortable with this approach (the victim must be asked
about this in private, preferably using the telephone interpreter service). If the victim’s immediate safety is at risk and
appropriate communication assistance cannot be accessed, the victim should be removed to a safe place first. The
assessment should then take place when the required assistance is available.
Advocacy or support
While it is appropriate for the victim to have an advocate or support person with them throughout the assessment
process, it is important to establish that there is no element of coercion involved in the presence of a third party and
that the third party is an appropriate support to the victim. This may be ascertained through a private conversation
with the victim prior to the assessment, which explores their relationship to the third party and their level of comfort
with them knowing intimate and personal details about their life.
55
Cultural sensitivity
Knowledge of the culture of the victim is an important element in creating an environment of respect and mutual
trust. While an in-depth understanding of the culture and values of a particular community group may not be
possible, an open and tolerant approach to cultural differences can be demonstrated through respectful questioning
about elements of the culture the assessor does not understand and which are pertinent to the assessment, and
tolerance for views and practices described that are not familiar to the assessor.
Professional responsibility
The victim must be made aware of the responsibility of the professional making the assessment including: the limits
of confidentiality (that is, when the assessor may need to breach confidentiality); the agency’s policies about
mandatory or other reporting to Child Protection or making a referral to Child FIRST; and, its policies about the risk
assessment and risk management process, including requirements to contact police should immediate safety issues
exist.
Introducing the assessment
The risk assessment conversation should be introduced with an explanation about the purpose of the assessment,
the possible outcomes of the assessment, and any actions that may be taken after the assessment, for example:
“I would like to have a chat with you to find out more about you, your family, and about [the perpetrator] so that I can
understand your experiences and so that together we can work out any risks to you and your children. Once we have
done that, we will then need to explore what happens next to keep you and your children as safe as possible from
future harm. Does that make sense? Are you okay with starting?’”
The person making the assessment and the victim must work together to determine the level of risk and safety.
The purpose of the assessment process is to determine risk and safety for the victim by considering a range of
victim and perpetrator characteristics that affect the likelihood and severity of future violence. Assessing risk i n
family violence is based on effective communication between the victim and the person making the
assessment, and it must include:
•
evidence-based risk factors
•
the victim’s own assessment of their level of risk, and
•
professional judgement.
Information required
The assessment must be thorough and must include significant details to support a safety and risk management
response. To this end, the assessment must:
•
•
•
•
•
•
include details of the most recent family violence episode, identifying frequency and severity
the history of the violence or abuse
identify risk indicators (refer aide memoire)
include the victim’s assessment of their risk
include assessment of risk to the children
articulate whether a crime has been committed
•
identify any protective factors that may exist, for example, an Intervention Order, the perpetrator being
incarcerated, or the victim currently living in a refuge
•
establish the risk level (that is, ‘at risk’, ‘elevated risk’ or ‘requires immediate protection’) and provide a rationale
for this assessment (some level of professional judgement is required)
result in the development of a comprehensive and forward looking risk management plan, with the victim’s input
provide details of services currently involved and any referrals made as a result of the assessment
include details about the next contact with the victim, or provide reasons if no further contact is planned, and
include the victim’s written consent for the risk assessment to be passed on as part of any referral made.
•
•
•
•
Suggested questions
The assessment must be approached as a conversation between the assessor and the victim, and questioning and
56
communication must demonstrate sensitivity, respect, support, validation and understanding of the victim’s
experience, a strengths and rights based approach, transparency and clarity, and active listening.
The initial objective is to encourage the victim to tell their story and define the problem in their own words. Broad
trigger questions can be used to begin the conversation, for example:
•
•
•
•
What has brought you here today?
Can you tell me what has been happening for you lately?
Tell me about your home life/relationship with X/what is worrying you?, and
Is there someone that you are afraid of?
Once the victim has had the opportunity to provide some details about their circumstances, questions can be more
specific, for example:
•
•
•
Could you tell me more about the last time he hurt you?
What does he do that hurts/scares/controls you?, and
How long has this been going on?
To ensure the victim also feels understood and supported, consider also asking the following questions:
•
•
•
•
•
•
Tell me about your relationship with X?
What was it that attracted you to X in the first place?
What role does X play in the family?
What role does X play with the children?
What are the good things about X? What good things does X do for you and the children?
What role does X play in the running of the household/of the family?, and
•
Was there a time when your relationship/family was free of violence? What was this like?
Asking these types of questions will assure the victim that their relationship with the perpetrator is understood and
accepted and will be accommodated in any risk assessment and risk management plan.
Children
Working with mothers
It is appropriate for assessors to refer to perpetrators and children by name when asking questions about them, and
to ask the questions in a natural manner. For example:
•
•
Have you left (perpetrator) before and what happened when you did?, and
How do you think (names of children) are coping with things at home?
It is important to establish whether Child Protection or Family Services have been, or are, involved.
Women who do not understand that the violence in their home affects their children need to be supported to accept
the impact on children. It is of paramount importance that these issues are fully understood by the person making
the assessment so that the woman can be assisted to gain this awareness. The framework contains evidence-based
information on the impact of violence on children and familial relationships. This information can be shared with
women in a number of ways, including:
•
•
•
providing her with a pamphlet on family violence from Child Protection or from another child focused agency
presenting her with a summary of the literature about the impact of family violence on children, and
encouraging her to discuss the issue further with a professional who works closely with children.
Sometimes a woman can be guided towards greater understanding through gentle questioning such as:
•
•
•
How do you think (child’s name) would describe life at home?
What changes do you think (child’s name) would like to see made at home?, and
Have you noticed how the children are after X has been violent to you?
Just as it is the role of the professional to validate and understand the woman’s experience of family violence, so too
must the woman be supported to validate and understand her children’s experience of the violence. Exploring this
together is an important aspect of the professional’s ongoing intervention with women and children and must be
considered in risk management planning.
57
Working with children
An assessment of children’s safety and unique needs must be undertaken. Victims of family violence who are
children must be considered in the same way as adult victims, and their experience must be understood in the
context of their development, their daily life, and their sibling, parental and peer relationships.
Considerations for children must be appropriate to their developmental age and stage and should include their:
•
•
•
•
•
•
current functioning at home and school and other relevant environments
relationships with family members and peers
views of their needs, safety and wellbeing
relationship with the perpetrator
relationship with other victims in the household, particularly if the victim is their mother, and
developmental history including other occasions of family violence or other types of abuse or neglect.
Trigger questions to ascertain a child’s experience of their home life could include:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Do you feel relaxed when you are around your family?
Do your parents look after you?
Do you worry about how one member of your family treats another?
Do your parents care about you?
Do you feel nervous or scared around certain members of your family?
Do you trust people in your family not to hurt you?
Is everyone in your family treated like they are important?
Do you worry that one member of your family might hurt another?, and
Do your parents treat each other with respect?
Questions about the parent’s/carer’s role in the child’s life can also be used to tease out and understand the daily
environment; for example:
•
Does one of your parents sometimes act in a way that makes the other feel nervous, intimidated or scared?
•
Does one of your parents constantly put the other down, criticise them or call them names (for example,
calling them stupid or useless)?
Has one of your parents ever hit, kicked, pushed, thrown things at, or hurt the other?
Have you ever tried to protect one of your parents when this has happened?
Has one of your parents tried to stop the other from going out or seeing their family or friends?
Does one of your parents control all the money or doesn’t let the other parent have any money?
Does one of your parents bully the other or always have to be the boss?, and
Has one of your parents ever threatened to hurt the other?
•
•
•
•
•
•
Questions for the child can be used if appropriate for the child’s age and stage of development; for example:
•
Has one of your parents or someone else in your family hurt or injured you physically, or have they tried to
hurt or injure you?
•
Do either of your parents constantly put you down and make you feel stupid or worthless, like you don’t
matter?
Do your parents look after you and take care of you?
Has a parent or family member touched you in a way that made you feel uncomfortable, or have they
tricked you or pressured you (or another family member) into doing sexual things?, and
Have any of the things we’ve just discussed happened to your brothers or sisters?
•
•
•
When children are too young to be interviewed or talked to about family violence, behavioural observation from other
sources such as kindergarten, school or day care will assist in the assessment process. While parental consent will
be required for such contact, professionals must refer children to specialist children’s service providers if concerns
exist.
Diversity factors
Together with the factors listed in the aide memoire at the back of this guide, others may increase the level of risk for
particular women. Cultural and religious factors that may affect safety should be considered, as should any other
factors that influence risk, such as the victim having a disability that makes them particularly dependent on the
58
perpetrator. Questions that could help to clarify the presence of such issues could include:
•
Is there anything about your circumstances that makes it hard for things at home to change?
•
What will happen if (perpetrator) can no longer provide care for you (in the case of a woman with a
disability)?, and
•
What assistance would you like from me now?
Aboriginal cultural competence
Agencies involved in responding to family violence for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander clients must develop a
culturally appropriate service response, which must be based on:
•
•
•
a real understanding of past government policies and practices in relation to Aboriginal people
a demonstrable understanding and respect for Aboriginal culture
a connectedness to Aboriginal organisations and service providers in the local area, and
•
a partnership approach to risk assessment and risk management with Aboriginal organisations and agencies in
the local area.
Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander victims must be offered a clear choice about referral options that includes referral
to an Aboriginal-specific family violence service. Where this is not possible, referral should be to a non-Aboriginal
family violence service to ensure the safety of the victim.
Victim’s level of fear
While the victim’s own level of fear is a good indicator of their level of risk, there are times when the victim may not
be able to accurately assess their level of risk. For example, this may occur when the victim has a mental health
issue, or when the victim has lived with violence for many years and has become desensitised to it. The professional
undertaking the assessment must use all the information obtained from the full assessment to determine how much
weight to give to the victim’s assessment of their situation.
The following questions allow the interviewer to explore the victim’s view about their level of risk:
•
•
•
How scared do you feel given what has just happened/the latest incident?
Do you think the violence will continue?, and
Is the violence getting worse?
Aide memoire
The aim of the aide memoire is to help practitioners collect relevant information through interview, including risk and
vulnerability factors that should be explored to ensure that the risk assessment is based on as much information as
possible. The aide memoire forms part of the recording template which can be found at the back of this guide.
The questions should not be used to collect data. Instead, they should be used as a ‘memory jogger’ to prompt the
assessor about information that needs to be collected, and to ‘flag’ information that should be followed up at a later
stage if appropriate.
Mental health issues such as depression and paranoid psychosis, which focuses on the victim as hostile, t ranslate
into high risk when they are present with other risk factors, particularly a previous history of violence. The presence
of a mental health issue, therefore, must be carefully considered in relation to the co-occurrence of other risk factors.
Professional judgement is required to ensure only indicators that are current and relevant to the circumstances are
used to determine whether risk is present. If the perpetrator has had a mental illness but is currently treated and well,
for example, this risk factor is not currently present and should not add significant weight to the assessment.
Because this assessment is designed to be conducted by professionals who will have an ongoing role with victims,
the long-term needs of the client need to be considered. While information on the presence of each risk factor in the
aide memoire should be gathered, the likelihood of the risk factor occurring and the consequence of the risk factor
for the victim should also be explored. To explore the likelihood of a risk factor occurring or not occurring, it may be
appropriate to ask the victim “do you think that will happen (again) in the future?”. And to explore the consequence of
a risk factor, the victim could be asked “how does that affect your day to day life?”. The professional making the
assessment may also balance their own knowledge of the situation and the risk factors to assess likelihood and
consequence. Evidence-based risk factors and their explanations are listed on the following pages:
59
60
61
Protective factors
It is important to determine whether protective factors are present that may serve to mitigate the risk. Protective
factors may include, but are not be limited to:
•
a victim’s decision to move away from the perpetrator – this factor can, however, significantly increase the level of
risk and must be carefully examined because it is truly protective only if there is no chance of the perpetrator
locating the victim
•
the perpetrator being incarcerated or otherwise prevented from approaching the victim.
Other protective factors to consider may include the victim being employed (and therefore being less isolated),
having a well developed social network and having access to resources such as money, transport, a place to stay
and advocacy services.
While the presence of protective factors should be taken into account in making the risk assessment, caution
must be taken not to place too much weight on them. The victim’s own view of whether the factor can protect
them is of vital importance.
Professional judgement
Professional judgement is needed to analyse the information obtained through the conversation with, and
observation of, the victim (and perpetrator if appropriate). It is also required to determine the significance of risk and
vulnerability factors in the overall presentation of the victim because the presence of some risk factors indicates that
risk is present. The greater the number of risk factors present, for example, the greater the risk to the victim from the
perpetrator. The likelihood of the risk factors re-occurring may also help to determine whether the victim is in need of
immediate protection or at elevated risk.
While the presence of any risk factor indicates that some risk is present, professional judgement is required to
determine the significance of this and the resulting risk level.
Determining the level of risk
Having collected as much information as possible about the victim and their situation, an assessment of the level of
risk should be made. The risk should be assessed as:
•
requires immediate protection, where the risk factors identified indicate further serious violence is imminent and
immediate action is required to prevent this from occurring
•
elevated risk, where there are a number of significant risk factors present that are likely to continue, indicating the
need to initiate risk management processes that include safety planning, and
•
at risk, where some family violence risk indicators are present but where structures are already in place to
manage the risk or the risk can be managed through advocacy, victim support and referral.
62
Risk management
Whilst risk assessment focuses on the family and measures the violence, risk management uses an integrated
service system to reduce the violence. All family members, women, children and men, are included.
Following the risk assessment, risk management is required for each victim, regardless of their risk level. The risk
management plan should be developed in consultation with the victim, except in cases where the assessor bel ieves:
•
•
•
•
the victim to be at extreme risk but unwilling to take action and a police response is required to secure their safety
(refer to police)
a child’s safety is at risk (refer to Child Protection)
a child’s stability and wellbeing is at risk (refer to Child FIRST), and
the victim is in need of urgent medical or psychiatric care (refer to hospital crisis assessment and treatment
team).
Effective risk management requires the person undertaking the risk assessment to be aware of other service
providers (both local and specialist statewide services), their role in family violence, the services they provide and
their referral processes. All services working with victims and perpetrators of family violence must, therefore, be
aware of appropriate referral pathways within their region. A local referral pathway is included in the front pocket of
this guide.
All decision making about referrals should occur in consultation with the victim, and they must consent to sharing
their information with another person or service (except in instances detailed above). It is important, therefore, to
canvass referral options with the victim and clearly explain the service options. Effective referral requires:
•
•
information sharing between agencies to ensure victim safety; the risk assessment should form part of the referral
minimising the need for victims to repeat previously disclosed information
•
telephone contact and consultation with the agency where the referral is to be made to ensure it is appropriate
and to ascertain any waiting list issues
completion of any referral forms, which should be done in conjunction with the victim, and
consultation with the service to discuss roles and responsibilities and to develop a case management protocol.
•
•
Agencies should not assume that the victim has fully disclosed all information in any previous risk assessment. The
victim may, for example, have previously been assessed by the police but may have been reluctant to disclose items
of an illegal nature. Furthermore, circumstances may have changed, even in a very short time. It is also important to
ascertain the referral histories of both the victim and the perpetrator. It may be, for example, that a referral to a men’s
behaviour change group has occurred in the past and that the perpetrator made significant changes as a result of
attending this program. And a past referral for the victim may require consideration as to whether it is appropriate to
refer them to the same place again.
Safety Planning
All risk management must involve some level of safety planning and the victim must participate in and understand
this process. Safety planning should identify:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
emergency contact numbers
a safe place for the victim to go in an emergency
how the victim will get to the safe place
supportive friends and family who are able to provide assistance
support with pet care
a plan that includes all family members affected by the violence, where possible
an available source of cash money, and
a place to store valuables and important documents together.
Victims of family violence should be made aware that the perpetrator can get information about calls from mobile and
landline telephones and pages accessed on the Internet. Services should encourage victims to regularly clear the
‘recently dialled numbers’ log of a mobile telephone and dial another ‘safe’ number after contacting services via the
landline. Victims should also be advised about the safety features on family violence websites that prevent the
tracing of viewed pages.
It is important to note that separation is a time of extreme danger. Separation includes the victim leaving the
perpetrator, or the perpetrator being removed from the home due to an Intervention Order, police charges or holding
63
powers, or otherwise against their will.
It may be appropriate and empowering for some victims to develop their own safety plan with minimal assistance
while other victims may need considerable assistance. The assessor must judge the victim’s level of risk and provide
the appropriate level of assistance.
Children who are old enough should be helped to develop a safety plan, either in conjunction with their affected
parent or on their own. Their safety plan should:
•
identify a safe place to go to when things at home become unsafe
•
a trusted friend to go to for help, their telephone number, a code word to indicate the need for help and directions
about what type of action to take (for example, call the police, tell an adult, call a helpline, meet the child at a
certain location), and
provide them with access to money to make phone calls, catch public transport or catch a taxi.
•
The risk management plan that incorporates a safety plan must be documented and include a statement that
summarises the current risk level of the victim. It is useful to also include what was done and was it successful. A
recording template can be found at the back of this guide. Risk management responses must be undertaken in
conjunction with any criminal and/or court action that may already have been taken by polic e.
Victims assessed to be at risk of future family violence should receive:
• information and advice about their legal rights
• advice about possible referral pathways for counselling or other appropriate service responses
• the names and telephone numbers of people they can call if they believe their level of risk has altered
• advice on how to develop a safety plan for themselves and any children involved, and
• advice about appropriate ongoing support options.
Victims assessed to be at elevated risk of future family violence should, at a minimum, receive:
• information and advice about their legal rights
• advice about possible referral pathways for counselling or other appropriate service responses
• the names and telephone numbers of people they can call if they believe their level of risk has altered
• help and support to develop a safety plan for themselves and any children involved
• report to Child Protection if required, and
• ongoing contact and support from the appropriate service provider.
Victims assessed as requiring immediate protection from future family violence should, at a minimum,
receive:
• information and advice about their legal rights
• advice about possible referral pathways for counselling or other appropriate service responses
• the names and telephone numbers of people they can call if they believe their level of risk has altered
•
•
•
immediate help and support to develop a safety plan for themselves and any children involved that includes a
refuge option (if this has not already occurred), contact with police and courts, and high levels of contact from a
family violence service
report to Child Protection if required, and
ongoing contact and support from the appropriate service provider.
All risk management plans must be flexible, include agreed timeframes and provide the victim with choices.
When a victim is assessed as being at elevated risk or as requiring immediate protection, but chooses not to engage
in safety planning or to respond to recommendations from family violence professionals or police, every effort must
be made to ensure:
•
the victim is given every opportunity to understand their current level of risk
•
the victim has a clear understanding of their rights under the law and in relation to their safety and that of any
children involved
a safety plan has been discussed with the victim and options provided
the risk assessment has been documented
the victim has been provided with a number of options for support and counselling, and
the victim is aware that they can seek assistance from the service provider at any time in the future.
•
•
•
•
If family violence professionals believe the victim to be in need of immediate protection and that a crime is
about to be, or will soon be, committed by the perpetrator, consideration should be given to informing the
64
police. The victim’s consent is not required in this instance, but every effort should be made to encourage the
victim to act in a way that enhances personal safety. If children are involved in or exposed to the violence ,
Child Protection should be contacted to secure their immediate safety. While it is often good practice to advise
parents that a report to Child Protection is being made, this should only occur if it does not compromise the
safety and wellbeing of the children. Acting without the consent of the victim places a strain on the relationship
between the victim and the professional. It is important, therefore, that the professional explains their actions
and decisions to the victim as clearly as possible.
Arrangements for the next contact with the victim should always be made and agreed so that the victim is clear about
if, and when, they will next meet with, or talk to, the assessor. If the assessor will not meet the victim again, a clear
reason should be provided and arrangements made for contact with someone else.
Integrated assessments
A comprehensive risk assessment and risk management approach will separately identify women, children and
men. A safety plan that is developed in the context of an interagency response, will increase the safety of
victims.
An aim of an integrated service response to family violence is to encourage consistency between service providers’
assessments and to build a collaborative response to securing victim safety. When a service provider such as the
courts, for example, refers a victim to another service provider such a specialist family violence service, the risk
assessment should form the basis of the referral (with the victim’s consent). And it is important that the new service
provider revisits this assessment with the victim to ensure that the information is still current and to provide the victim
with the opportunity to elaborate on the information provided initially.
The perpetrator
The future safety of victims begins with interventions for perpetrators to remove the threat, or possibility of further
harm. For many reasons, however, intervening with perpetrators is itself a risk. Violence often escalates once the
violent relationship becomes known to others.
An effective response to family violence should anticipate an escalation of the violence once it is disclosed. A
proactive response to the source of the violence, the perpetrator, is a part of the risk management process.
The No to Violence standards of practice are endorsed assessments for men’s support services and behaviour
change programs. For women’s and children’s services, information about perpetrators is to be obtained from
women in order to develop an informed and effective safety plan. Reports to police will be necessary when further
violence is anticipated and information from police about perpetrators is relevant to providing safety for victims.
Referral pathways for the perpetrator may be considered once the victim risk assessment is complete and a risk
management plan is in place. The risk management plan may include contact with the perpetrator (only ever with the
victim’s consent) and discussion about suitable referral options, which may include:
•
•
participating in a men’s behaviour change group, and
undergoing individual counselling for behaviour change, drug and alcohol abuse or past family violence.
Contact with the perpetrator is vital when the victim is in a relationship with them, or when there are children involved
and access/contact needs to be arranged. Service pathways should be discussed with the perpetrator and the victim
and consent obtained for a suitable referral.
Children
Referral pathways for children include contacting:
•
•
•
Child Protection to assess the immediate and ongoing safety of children exposed to or experiencing family
violence
Child FIRST to assess the wellbeing of children, and
specialist service providers who are qualified to provide children and families with family violence counselling,
group work or family therapy work.
Recording the assessment
Police should record the assessment on L17 and other professionals should use the recording template at the back
of this guide.
65
Consent
Except as indicated on page 28, consent from the victim should be obtained if new referrals are required. The victim
can sign the recording template giving their consent for their assessment record to be used as a referral to another
organisation.
Referral pathways
Referral pathways include:
•
•
•
•
specialist family violence services for women and children experiencing family violence, including housing,
refuges and other support services
Child Protection or Child FIRST, where children are identified as being in need of protection or their wellbeing is
compromised respectively
a police response if a crime has been committed or if the victim’s safety is not currently assured, and
referral to a legal centre or court if an Intervention Order is required.
A list of local referral pathways should be compiled using the template in the front pocket of this guide.
66
Photocopy and complete
Comprehensive assessment
Recording template
67
Photocopy and complete
Comprehensive assessment
Recording template cont’d
68
Photocopy and complete
Comprehensive assessment
Aide memoire
Note: these risk and vulnerability factors should be explored through the course of a conversation. Risk indicators are
not intended to be asked as part of a data collection process and should not be used as such.
* May indicate an increased risk of the victim being killed or almost killed. # Mental health issues such as depression and
paranoid psychosis, which focuses on the victim as hostile, are high risk when they are present in conjunction with other ris k
factors, particularly a previous history of violence. The presence of a mental health issue must be carefully considered in relation
to the co-occurrence of other risk factors.
69
Photocopy and complete
Comprehensive assessment
Victim’s own assessment of safety
Has a crime been committed?
Criminal offences include physical abuse, sexual assault, threats, pet abuse, property damage, stalking and
breaching intervention orders. (See Case Classification Code Table for reference).
No
Yes If yes, provide details.
CASE CLASSIFICATION CODE TABLE *
Instructions: Describe the most serious feature of the current case, and use this code number in the box above.
CRIMINAL ABUSE
ASSAULTS
PROPERTY
STALKING
BREACHING I/O
1 Serious (Physical)
4 Threats (non-physical)
7 Serious (Damage)
10 Less than 2 weeks
13 Only
2 Minor (Physical)
3 Sexual
5 Pet Abuse
8 Minor (Damage)
11 Between 2 & 4 weeks
14 Plus Other Charges
6 Other types of assault
9 Theft
12 Greater than 4 weeks
NON-CRIMINAL ABUSE
15 Emotional Manipulative or controlling behaviour, humiliating or intimidating behaviour, subjecting victim to reckless driving, continual criticism,
threatening to take children away or undermining the relationship between victim and children. Threatening to commit suicide.
16 Verbal
Swearing or making derogatory insults to the victim.
17 Social
Keeping victim away from family and friends, not letting victim leave the house, insulting victim in public.
18 Financial
Keeping victim totally dependent, not giving victim enough money to buy things for the household or for basic needs, threatening that victim will lose all
victim’s property if the relationship ends.
19 Spiritual
Ridiculing or insulting victim’s most valued beliefs about religion, ethnicity, socio-economic background or sexual preferences.
NON-ABUSIVE AND NON-CRIMINAL BEHAVIOUR
20 Conflict
Non-violent, non-abusive, non-criminal dispute between family members characterised by the absence of controlling or coercive behaviour
* This is consistent with the Classification Table used by the Victoria Police in the Family Violence Risk Assessment and Management Report (the L17).
70
Photocopy and complete
Comprehensive assessment
Protective factors (refer to details on page 62)
Risk level assessment and rationale
Requires immediate protection
Elevated risk
At risk
Rationale:
Agencies already involved
71
Photocopy and complete
Comprehensive assessment
Risk management plan (refer to details on page 63)
Safety plan (refer to details on page 63)
72
Photocopy and complete
Comprehensive assessment
Referrals made
Consent
I,
consent for this practitioner to share the information I have provided in this assessment with other agencies to
which I am being referred.
Signature:
Date:
/
Verbal consent obtained:
/
Yes
No
73