百春链

Welcome to our newsletter update on the Integrated Safety Response (ISR) pilot. In this update you will find the following:

• Foreword from Safer Whānau Business Owner: Bronwyn Marshall
• Learnings from Christchurch
• Good news story from Christchurch
• Waikato lifts off
• Case Management System (CMS) – a game changer
• Consultation on Workforce Capability Framework
• Questions or feedback

The first ISR pilot was launched in Christchurch on 1 July. As the ISR frontrunner, this has enabled early learnings, including improvements to the Case Management System, to be fed into the Waikato site.

In addition, changes have been made to meet Christchurch’s own challenges, e.g. a move from five to six day a week Safety Assessment Meetings from 1 October. The team are also working on alternative ways to manage low risk referrals.

For Christchurch, the ISR approach has brought into the open longstanding capacity issues. Justice Sector Ministers’ recent approval of additional funding will bolster the capacity of perpetrator outreach services.

The numbers speak for themselves. As at 29 November (around five months on), in Christchurch there have been:

• 3673 episodes recorded
• 2654 plans created / 948 have been closed
• involving 8325 people
• over 7000 tasks completed or closed to ensure families and whanau are safer sooner
• since the beginning of the pilot, more NGOs have come on board and taking referrals from ISR, e.g. Victim Support and Stopping Violence Services.

A shout out from ISR Director Jane Morgan

ISR Director Jane Morgan says “two new NGO groupings that have come on board just recently deserve a special ‘shout out’ – the Christchurch Coordination Service that looks at our daily list and take referrals to alcohol and drug services across eight NGOs – and the Lifelinks needs assessment and service coordination provider who also looks at our daily list and provides information to help us support people with disabilities affected by family violence.”

Feedback from the ground

Good news stories abound about the difference that ISR is making to vulnerable families lives, but what does ISR mean for the staff on the ground?

Specialist Mental Health Service Family Safety Coordinator Nicci Weild provided this feedback.

ISR has raised the profile of family violence and care and protection in general in the teams in Specialist Mental Health Service.

Our managers are supportive of ISR and teams are reporting more concerns through to the Violence Intervention Program for consultation, documentation and safety planning and referrals.

Initially there was worry that ISR would add to their workloads, but once they work on a case they realise that there is a team around the family and they have a role to play.

And from Practice Leader Christchurch Community Corrections Genista Tuilagi:

• ISR has made a huge impact in keeping whānau at the forefront of our decision making. It has also strengthened the core agencies working relationship to ensure that each family/whānau has a safety plan in place.
• The best thing about ISR is the core agencies being willing and open to work outside the box in making families safe.
• One challenge is accepting/acknowledging when a victim declines support.

Following a victim’s positive interactions through the ISR pilot in Christchurch, the victim has become an advocate speaking out about her experience with family harm and the trust and confidence she now has in ISR and the agencies involved.

This victim had engaged with police and other agencies in at least 15 known previous family violence incidents spanning the six year relationship. She described this as a frustrating process of “having to prove the abuse” and repeat herself to sever different agencies reliving victimisation in the process. She gave up reporting only visibly grievous violence.

Following an August incident, the victim engaged with police and was referred to agencies via the Safety Assessment Meeting process. The entire family received wraparound services. The victim noted that the communications between agencies had improved and she was given great support.

The electronic case management system is an essential tool for teams to work together and share information (across government and non-government agencies), as well as provide reporting to enable robust planning and resourcing management.

The CMS is a proof of concept and there’s no doubt the Christchurch CMS users have experienced frustrating problems relating to the platform’s stability. The ICT team has been committed to making addressing issues and making enhancements. A monthly update is now being sent to ISR CMS users so they know what’s been fixed, what’s underway and tips on using the system.

We were delighted to receive this feedback from our new team in Waikato:

WOW – it is incredible, it’s simple to use – the agencies are finding it overall user friendly. We have come from a situation of multiple self-built databases that served a purpose but were clunky and difficult to negotiate. Obviously there are some small tweaks that are required, but what an improvement!

What the data tells us

The number of family violence episodes is as expected, i.e. it has not increased. Most importantly, the system is able to produce data that we have never had access to before, which will prove invaluable for future planning for who we respond to family harm.

Key points:

• Overrepresentation of Māori – 23% of people in CMS (Māori represent 8% of population in Christchurch).
• The number of children in family safety plans is significant – over 50% of people in plans are aged under 25 years.
• Number of repeat episodes recorded – data is emerging on repeat episodes as pilot matures. At present, 82% of plans in CMS involve one episode (so 18% involve 2 or more).
• An increase in the number of NGO providers leading family safety plans is starting to emerge – Since the beginning of the pilot, more NGOs have come on board and taking referrals from ISR, for example: Victim Support and Stopping Violence Services.

As you know, ISR is one of within the cross-government Ministerial Group on Family Violence and Sexual Violence Work Programme.

The Workforce Capability Framework (led by the Ministry of Social Development) is another priority project. The aim is to identify the core capabilities that members of the family violence, sexual violence and violence within whānau workforce need to effectively deliver services, and to better collaborate and co-ordinate with each other.

An Expert Design Group comprising government and non-government experts in family and sexual violence is co-designing the framework, and exploring implementation options for the sector.

Insights gained from testing the workforce capability framework in the ISR pilots will inform the content of the framework which is until 13 January 2017.

If you have any questions or feedback, please email ISR@police.govt.nz