Staying home - leaving violence

02 December 2004

Pilot programs are being set up across NSW in response to a report from the UNSW Australian Domestic and Family Violence Clearinghouse. Minister for Community Services Carmel Tebbutt launched the report on campus this week.

Staying Home Leaving Violence looks at how women leaving a domestic violence relationship can remain safely in their homes with their children, with the violent partner being removed.

The researchers conducted in-depth interviews with 29 women - 20 who had left their homes and nine who remained after leaving a domestic violence relationship, and found that most women had not even thought staying in their homes was an option.

"Some of the women in the study who left to escape violence became homeless and poor, virtually overnight," said the report's author, Robyn Edwards. "Many of the women said they would have liked to remain in their homes, if this had been an option for them."

Staying Home Leaving Violence outlines four key steps to ensuring a woman and her children can remain safely in their home: removing the perpetrator from the home; keeping the perpetrator out of the home over time; the provision of immediate and longer term safety initiatives for women and their children and longer term support for women and children and prevention of further violence.

"The research is significant because it promotes choices for women in violent relationships," said Jane Mulroney, director of the Domestic Violence Clearinghouse. "But staying in the home will not be an option for all women and their children."

"In light of the report's recommendations DoCS is planning three pilot projects to provide support to women and children who choose to stay in their homes in Bega, Inner Sydney and Mount Druitt," Ms Tebbutt said.

For the full report see the Australian Domestic and Family Violence Clearinghouse website.

The cartoon above is from Send Violence Packing, a storybook by Marta Ponti and Robyn Edwards, also launched today.