Screening, Risk assessment and Intervention for Family Violence including Child abuse and neglect
Preface
The purpose of this document is to provide an appropriate Standard, which establishes
the minimum requirements that should be met by individuals and agencies/services involved
in working with families living with family violence, child abuse or neglect. It provides a
common language for these agencies/services to screen for this behaviour, assess risk
relating to these situations, and provide for safety planning interventions.
A family is a place where everyone should be safe, yet violence, abuse and neglect within
the family are major problems in New Zealand. In 2005, New Zealand Police recorded
over 60,000 offences and non-offence incidents involving family violence, at which over
62,000 children and young people under 17 were present or involved in some capacity.
Family violence, child abuse and neglect directly affect the well-being of families and their
ability to participate in society. They create high personal costs for the people involved,
and significant social and economic costs to society as a whole. Research has shown, for
example, that the costs from family violence in New Zealand could go as high as five
billion dollars in a year.
In the face of this challenge, it is vital to support and co-ordinate the efforts of those agencies
and services working to help people affected by family violence, abuse and neglect within
the family. This Standard aims to provide a consistent set of guidelines for those at the
forefront of dealing with the results of family violence, abuse and neglect including teachers,
police, medical personnel, midwives, nurses, social workers and others. It is hoped that
this will help to enable a coherent response to incidents and symptoms of family violence,
abuse and neglect.
I commend the work of the Committee and the inter-sectoral approach taken to developing
this Standard. As tragedies have shown us, it is critical that systems around families are
integrated and working towards a common goal. I am confident that the development of
this Standard will go some way towards these agencies working smarter and more
collaboratively which will make a difference for families exposed to or experiencing violence,
child abuse and neglect.
Howard Broad
Commissioner of Police
May 2006
Top
Table of contents
CONTENTS
Committee representation
Acknowledgement
Copyright
Standards Council approval
Preface
Referenced documents
New Zealand legislation
Related documents
Useful websites and e-mail addresses
Foreword
Review period
1 GENERAL
1.1 Scope
1.2 Overview
1.3 Principles
1.4 The role of the Treaty of Waitangi
1.5 The role of human rights
1.6 Who should use this Standard?
1.7 Purpose and application
1.8 Benefits of this Standard
1.9 Interpretation
2 CULTURAL AWARENESS
2.1 Māori whānau violence
2.2 Pacific peoples and family/fanau violence
2.3 Immigrant and ethnic communities
3 DOCUMENTATION AND CONFIDENTIALITY
3.1 Policies and procedures
3.2 Information sharing
4 APPLICATION
4.1 Policy
4.2 Risk screening
4.3 Risk assessment
4.4 Safety planning
Appendix
A List of References (Informative)
B The Extent of Family Violence (Informative)
C Glossary (Normative)
D The Cycle of Violence (Informative)
E The Whare Tapa Whā Model (Informative)
F Signs and Symptoms associated with Partner Abuse (Informative)
G Examples of Risk Screening Resources (Informative)
H Examples of Risk Assessment Resources (Informative)
J Examples of Safety Planning Resources (Informative)
Top
Download
