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In this section:

DFV Disability Plan

Responsible government

  • Queensland

Fourth Action Plan actions

  • Respect, listen and respond to the diverse lived experience and knowledge of women and their children affected by violence
    • 11 Deliver policies and services to address the disproportionate impact of violence on particular groups.
  • Improve support and service system responses
    • 16 Enable workforces to provide trauma-informed support with a focus on safety and recovery to victims and survivors of domestic, family and sexual violence.

What are we doing?

Queensland’s plan to respond to domestic and family violence against people with disability will continue to drive actions to end domestic violence in Queensland – for all Queenslanders.

The investment of $1.5 million over two years will build sector capacity, and build good evidence about what works to help make it easier for women with disability to report family violence and access support.

The plan contains both immediate strategies to improve service responses as well as initiatives that will pave the way towards a greater understanding of the experiences of people with disability, the strengths of the existing service systems and areas for future collaboration and improvement.

What have we achieved so far?

  • A Consultative Working Group (CWG) was established, including people with lived experience of disability, lived experience of domestic and family violence, or both, or people who advocate on behalf of, or work with people with lived experience. The role of the CWG is to provide informed input to government agencies to support implementation of actions under the Plan.
  • Of the total 22 actions under the Plan, 14 have been fully delivered, with the remaining 8 underway.
  • Delivered actions include:
    • integrated service responses to DFV including disability advocacy organisations and relevant disability service providers in their place-based models where available;
    • DFV high risk teams accessing (where relevant) disability service providers and/or professionals with appropriate levels of expertise to support multi-agency complex risk assessment and safety management planning;
    • delivering training to the DFV sector in understanding and responding to DFV experienced by people from diverse backgrounds, including people with disability;
    • including additional guidance in the Queensland Health DFV Toolkit of Resources to support health staff working with and responding to people with disability experiencing DFV;
    • extending and strengthening the capacity of the Gold Coast Queensland DFV Taskforce trial to better respond to people with disability impacted by DFV;
    • introducing flexible assistance packages for women (including women with disability) experiencing domestic and family violence to meet immediate needs and enable and sustain a choice of housing that best meets their needs;
    • supporting the Queensland Police Service DFV Coordinator Network, including the delivery of integrated DFV services for people with a disability.
    • renewing the practice standards for working with women affected by DFV, including elements relating to best practice for working with people with disability;
    • constructing two new crisis shelters (Caboolture and Gold Coast) that can accommodate women with high mobility needs, and completing the renewal of shelters in the remote and discrete communities of Pormpuraaw and Woorabinda;
    • examining, and making available to government and relevant non-government services, a consolidated list of brokerage and emergency crisis funding available for people impacted by DFV (including additional funding available for people with disability impacted by DFV); and
    • leveraging Commonwealth investment under the Fourth Action Plan for the National Plan to Reduce Violence Against Women and their Children 2010-2020 to ensure that the needs of women with disability are addressed.
  • Additional work delivered includes:
    • The development of an evidence-based communication and engagement strategy (to raise awareness and understanding of the impact of DFV on people with disability) based on research and extensive engagement with key stakeholders, including women with disability, the DFV and disability service sector, advocacy groups and government agencies;
    • Research and engagement processes, building an evidence base and identifying existing resources, gaps and needs in relation to DFV knowledge and awareness among women with disability by mapping data and working with agencies to improve data capture for the sector to target appropriate DFV responses for people with disability;
    • The disability workforce has participated in stakeholder engagement forums and a learning needs analysis, informing the development of a DFV training solution for the disability workforce; and
    • The mapping of DFV and disability data across Queensland Government departments and the DFV and disability sectors, and at a national level and identified gaps and suggested opportunities for prioritising and improving data collection about people with disability experiencing DFV.

What is next?

As part of the plan, the Queensland Government has committed to:

  • Implementing the communication and engagement strategy to raise awareness in relation to people with disability impacted by DFV and their human rights;
  • Development of accessible and inclusive DFV information and awareness resources, online training and workshop materials addressing sector and individual capacity and capability improvement that cater to a range of disabilities and geographic locations in Queensland;
  • Delivering DFV training modules and resources to the disability workforce; and
  • Completing an evaluation of the Plan to assess the impact/effectiveness of the implementation of actions in the plan for people with disability impacted by DFV.

What difference will we make?

Expected outcomes from the DFV Disability Plan include:

  • Awareness is raised in Queenslanders of the additional risks and impact of DFV for people with disability and services available;
  • Awareness is raised on strategies to reduce and prevent the incidence of DFV against people with disability;
  • Promotion of the human rights, independence of, and supported decision making by, people with disability to prevent harm and continuously improve quality service responses;
  • Supports to people with disability impacted by DFV are improved, in particular to women with disability;
  • Programs and initiatives to reduce and prevent DFV against people with disability are enhanced;
  • Specialist and non-specialist domestic and family, disability, community justice and health services are disability and DFV-informed, capable, accessible and inclusive for people with disability impacted by DFV;
  • Practical responses assist people with disability impacted by DFV to be safe and well supported, and improve the understanding of the complexities that frontline QPS officers face when attending DFV incidents;
  • Improve understanding and awareness of the experiences of DFV on people with disability, including women with disability and children; and
  • Promote research and evaluation of the provision of support for people with disability who are impacted by DFV.

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