The Orange Door
Responsible government
- Victoria
Fourth Action Plan actions
- Improve support and service system responses
- 17 Collaborate across services, sectors and workforces to ensure responses to women affected by domestic, family and sexual violence are coordinated, meet women’s needs, avoid women having to retell their story and promote their recovery.
What are we doing?
The Orange Door is a new way for women, children and young people experiencing family violence and families in need of support with the care, wellbeing and development of children and young people, to access the services they need to be safe and supported. It does not replace existing specialist services or responses but enables a new entry point.
The Orange Door service model has been designed to:
- provide an integrated intake pathway to women’s and children’s family violence services, services for men who use violence and child and family services (helping to significantly reduce the number of times that victims are required to tell their story);
- hold perpetrators to account by engaging and supporting them to participate in interventions that address the risk they pose and challenge their behaviour;
- keep the whole family in view with support tailored to each family member’s needs; and
- provide an integrated service response and connect people to a wide range of supports across the spectrum of prevention, early intervention, response and recovery.
The Victorian Government has provided $448.1 million between 2017-18 and 2020-21 towards establishing and operating The Orange Door statewide.
What have we achieved so far?
- The Orange Door is on track to be operational across the state by the end of 2022 and is now operational in ten areas, including Bayside Peninsula, Barwon, Mallee, North East Melbourne, Inner Gippsland, Central Highlands, Loddon, Goulburn, Ovens Murray and Inner Eastern Melbourne. Another three areas are scheduled to commence services in 2021, with the remaining four commencing in 2022.
- Each area is establishing a network of access arrangements including a number of locations for face-to-face support, as well as telephone and email.
- Since commencement in May 2018 and up to 30 June 2021, 150,529 people, including 58,309 children, were referred to or directly sought help from The Orange Door.
- A strengthened approach to practice leadership is also currently being implemented across each The Orange Door network, including the establishment of new practice leader roles focussed on working with children and young people and working with perpetrators, to complement the existing roles focussed on integrated practice, working with Aboriginal people and families, and working with victim survivors.
What is next?
- The Orange Door will be established in all 17 Department of Health (DOH) areas across Victoria by the end of 2022.
- A range of enhancements and improvements are being designed and implemented over the coming years to enable Victorian to realise the full vision and intent of The Orange Door. These include:
- Agreed and consistent service connections with legal, housing and homelessness and financial services
- Improved induction training that includes a mandatory cultural safety component
- An updated integrated practice framework
- A comprehensive Reporting and Performance Management Framework
- Information technology upgrades to allow collection of data on quality, timeliness and performance outcomes.
What difference will we make?
This initiative will contribute to the National Outcomes that services meet the needs of women and their children experiencing violence and that perpetrators stop their violence and are held to account.
Actions that will contribute to achieving these outcomes include:
- Helping to ensure people experiencing family violence (and families in need of support with the care, wellbeing and development of children and young people) can more easily access the services they need to be safe and supported.
- Contributing to cross-system responses to ensure there is a stronger focus on keeping perpetrators in view.
Victoria will continue to monitor this initiative by reporting on the establishment of The Orange Door in each Department of Health area and measuring the number of assessments undertaken by The Orange Door, including those specifically for children. A performance framework is under development to support a holistic view of performance and effectiveness and deliver a holistic focus on a greater understanding of service quality and to inform achievements over time, with a longer term plan to embed a greater focus on client outcomes.
Evidence of effectiveness of The Orange Door is being gathered through:
- monthly and annual reporting on service delivery;
- formal evaluations and an audit by the Victorian Auditor General’s Office service commencement reviews; and
- feedback from clients on their service experience.