A state-first trial has come to Geelong to help women and children experiencing family violence to stay at home and in their community safely.
The Safe At Home initiative was launched on Friday, March 14, featuring a $6 million state government investment to protect victim-survivors from violence.
Minister for Prevention of Family Violence Natalie Hutchins said the initiative was about strengthening safety and allowing women to stay at home.
“It’ll support up to 54 families here in the Geelong and Barwon regions and they’ll be able to access this support for up to two years,” she said.
“We know that one of the biggest contributing factors for women and homelessness is family violence, and so being able to keep women at home in a safe environment is so important.
“We will be assessing how this program is going and how successful it’s been, because we know that this is a blueprint for us to run trials in other regions in the future to support more women to stay at home.”
The three-year trial will include the perpetrator being removed from the home and given support to change their behaviour, while the families are provided with specialist support in housing, employment, child and cultural support if required.
Diana Connell is a survivor of family violence currently living in Werribee with plans to move to Geelong and the lived experience advisor for the Safe At Home program.
“I was in the relationship for 25 years and we were originally in New Zealand before moving to Australia when my kids were five and seven years old,” Ms Connell said.
“When the kids got older, the violence became more noticeable… So, after fleeing the violence and family home, I had no choice but homelessness and lived in a car for what seemed like an eternity while I also battled cancer.
“I’m very hopeful that the Safe At Home approach will mean many other people experiencing violence will not go through the same traumatic events that me and my children did.”
Meli acting chief executive Bernadette McCartney said the initiative would help provide an early intervention approach for the whole family.
“The strength of the model is that it’s not only for the victims of violence, so the women and children who are kept in a home that are supported, but it’s also for the person using violence,” she said.
“However, sometimes people will make the decision to return to the home, and that’s where we are dependent on the police and the court system to enact those legal orders if they’re in place.”
Visit safeathome.org.au for more information or to get in contact with the initiative’s team.
