Kia ora koutou, Welcome to our newsletter which provides news about the Ministry of Social Development’s work programme to strengthen family violence and sexual violence services. In this update you’ll find information about:

Next steps for new funding of sexual violence services

Following the Government’s announcement of new funding for the sexual violence sector we would like to talk to service providers about what this will mean. In last month’s Wellbeing Budget the Government announced $131 million over four years toward expanding specialist sexual violence services. Of this funding, $90.3 million has been allocated to MSD to strengthen support for adult victims/survivors and perpetrators of sexual violence, and their families and whānau. We want to visit currently contracted sexual violence service providers from late July to talk about the Budget announcement. This will be an opportunity to reflect on what has been working well, what you might like to see change, and discuss the opportunities available with increased investment. We will be in touch with providers to arrange visits. If you are not a currently contracted provider but are a part of the sexual violence sector and interested in contributing to this discussion, please get in touch with us. Email us at CI_Sexual_Violence_Services@msd.govt.nz and we can arrange the details. Initial focus of the Budget funding Of the $90.3m funding, $11.7m has been allocated to the 2019/20 financial year. The focus of this funding will be to ensure service continuity for victims/survivors and perpetrators of sexual violence. Funding for existing services will be allocated to providers in 2019/20 following the same way it was previously allocated, subject to providers maintaining contract and accreditation requirements. The allocation of funding for kaupapa Māori specialist sexual violence services in 2019/20 is still to be determined. Contracted sexual violence service providers should have received information from their Partnering for Outcomes contract manager about the initial impact on their contracts. If you have any questions, please contact your contract manager in the first instance. Find out more about the new funding

Whānau Resilience regional presentations underway

In our last newsletter, we let you know we’d finished shortlisting providers who expressed interest in helping to design and deliver new Whānau Resilience services. These are services that focus on long term healing and recovery interventions, strengthening whānau to live free from violence and help our communities thrive. It brings with it a new funding model and approach. Instead of nationally designed services that prescribe the work needing to be done, the change will see providers funded to co-design, then deliver services created by the region, for the region. Second stage of progress We are now underway with stage two of the process. This involves shortlisted providers participating in regional presentations being held between May and August. The first of these regional presentations has started, with providers from the Tasman and Canterbury regions participating in an open presentation to a panel, and their peers. “To get to this stage is a big achievement,” says Edwina James, Team Leader, Community, Partnerships and Programmes. “We have had a huge response from providers wanting to be part of this new initiative, and the calibre and quality has been incredibly high. “Inevitably there are providers who have missed out. But this is about long-term change, and the nature of this new approach means that it will be really important for the providers who are participating to talk to organisations in their communities to understand the needs and strengths of their regions. “That gives everyone the opportunity to have input into the development of solutions and work together to help break the intergenerational cycle of violence and help our communities thrive.” Find out more about Whānau Resilience The initiative supports the wider cross-government Joint Venture to prevent and reduce family violence and sexual violence.

Pouwhakataki roles now on GETS

Do you have a passion for ora tika – love for your community – and want to see it thrive? This is a reminder that MSD is seeking registrations of interest from people for the roles of Pouwhakataki/Community Connectors (previously known as Kairaranga). As a Pouwhakataki, you will lead, connect and support providers in your local and regional community to co-design Whanau Resilience services. If you are interested, you can find our more and register through the Government Electronic Tenders Service. The closing date is this Thursday, 13 June 2019. Find out more about Whanau Resilience

Fernhill analysis of sexual violence services completed

We have now received the final report and recommendations from the analysis of sexual violence services undertaken by Fernhill Solutions Ltd. We commissioned the analysis to understand what the full sexual violence landscape looks like – this includes organisations and services not currently funded by MSD – and what the capacity of the current workforce is. This work is different from the ongoing evaluation of sexual violence services and did not include an analysis of how each individual service operates. The Fernhill report includes a number of recommendations:
  • Strategic partnering – building strategic collaborations with all stakeholders including funders, professional bodies, associations, NGOs and others to achieve shared outcomes for clients, their families and whānau.The current workforce is unable to meet the growing demand for services, and as a result people have to wait for services.
  • Co-design services – drawing value from long-term strategic relationships alongside hearing and understanding the voice of the client, their family and whānau, service providers and strategic partners to design flexible services that are based on evidence and experience.The current market is working to capacity across all funders.
  • Ensure adequate funding – recognise the true costs of delivering cross agency services and ensure that services are financially sustainable without putting undue additional pressure on service providers to ‘top up’ their funding.
  • Identify fit for purpose service delivery models – evidence-based programmes and learning from one another through evaluation, capability building and honest feedback.
  • Engage the workforce – to ensure that their voices are heard and understood.
  • Reach hard-to-reach populations – working closely with these communities to identify their specific needs which can lead to innovative solutions to address lack of service coverage.
  • Implement integrated, cohesive reporting mechanisms – best practice service design and delivery, with measurable funding outcomes, and standardised reporting to be able to accurately support and target service delivery.
Over the next few months we will continue our work with stakeholders and the sector to consider these recommendations alongside other research (such as recommendations from the work to improve support for the sexual violence sector) in the development of future work programmes. Further updates will be provided in upcoming newsletters.

Gap in sexual violence post-crisis care

In September last year we highlighted the gap in service provision for many victims/survivors of sexual violence after they have accessed crisis support services. This gap was identified by providers through both Malatest International’s external evaluation, and our own consultation with several providers. We said that after consulting with a small number of providers to explore this gap further we would share back what we found. A common experience reported by providers was the requirement to ‘hold’ victims/survivors in their services until they reached independence, or until they can access support through the Integrated Services for Sensitive Claims (funded by ACC) or another appropriate agency. Key theme of post-crisis care and recovery A key theme of post-crisis care and recovery is the need for time and resourcing for providers to:
  • work holistically with the victim/survivor to ensure practical needs are met e.g. financial support, housing, transport
  • advocate on behalf of victims/survivors and engage with other services e.g. Work and Income case managers, GPs, mental health
  • work with families, whānau and communities to educate and strengthen support networks around the victim/survivor.
Download the Sexual Violence Post-Crisis Care and Recovery consultation summary (PDF 523.81KB) Additionally, MSD’s Research and Evaluation team has completed a Rapid Evidence Review summarising the available evidence on the types of post-crisis care and recovery support services that are effective in helping survivors of sexual violence. Download the Rapid Evidence Review (PDF - 510.76KB) We will continue to explore this area further to better understand the support survivors need.

Next phase of changes to Family Violence Acts

The second phase of changes to the family violence laws take effect on 1 July. The Family Violence Act 2018 and the Family Violence (Amendments) Act 2018 improve the legislative framework for family violence by giving priority to the safety of victims, including children, and preventing perpetrators from inflicting family violence. The new legislation is part of the Joint Venture work programme to transform the response system for victims and perpetrators of family and sexual violence in New Zealand. The Joint Venture leads and coordinates the family violence and sexual violence work programme across 10 government agencies. Phase one took effect in December last year and strengthened criminal law. Three new family violence offences were introduced: Strangulation/Suffocation, Assault on a Person in a Family Relationship, Coerced Marriage or Civil Union. Other changes in phase one made it easier for victims to give evidence by a video recording made before a court hearing and give priority to victim safety when deciding to grant bail. Further measures to strenthen family laws Phase two brings in a range of other measures to strengthen family laws:
  • making improvements to court orders to keep victims safer and hold perpetrators to account
  • giving greater emphasis to coercive and controlling behaviour in the legal definition of family violence
  • providing principles to guide decision making
  • giving family violence offences greater visibility in the courts
  • removing legal barriers to information sharing between agencies to increase victims’ safety
  • identifying Family Violence Agencies.
From 1 July the Family Violence Act 2018 replaces the Domestic Violence Act 1995. A third phase of implementation will embed two longer-term changes.  These are:
  • Increasing support for people bound by a Police Safety Order (PSO).  Testing of a risk assessment process for people bound by a PSO concludes in August 2019 and will then be rolled out.
  • The Family Court will be able to direct respondents to Protection Orders, through an assessor, to a wider range of services, such as social services. This will be included in the conditions of a Protection Order and is in addition to attendance at a non-violence programme.
Find out more information about the changes

Child and family research funding avaliable

Are you a social services provider with some research capability, or do you have an idea for a research project that you could partner with another organisation to deliver? Each year MSD awards up to $750,000 to policy-relevant research projects that explore and analyse the data gathered by the Growing Up in New Zealand (GUiNZ) study, the largest longitudinal study into child development and growing up in 21st century New Zealand. Applications are open to academics, public and independent research organisations, government agencies, and non-government organisations including iwi-based organisations and service providers. This year we have introduced a second category of funding to support researchers new to the GUiNZ data. Two categories of funding are available:
  • Standard research grant: Up to $125,000 per proposal. Projects will demonstrate strong research capability, experience with working with longitudinal data.
  • New user grant: Up to $50,000 per proposal. Projects must be led by a principal investigator who has not previously conducted research using GUiNZ data.
Each project will require collaboration with a policy agency to ensure alignment to current policy needs and advice. "Collaborations between groups are encouraged, and joint working relationships between relevant policy agencies and researchers expected so that we get richer research insights and more comprehensive analyses of how we can improve the wellbeing of New Zealand children and their families," says Social Development Minister Carmel Sepuloni. Read the Minister’s media release Apply for funding and learn more about the fund If you have any queries, about sexual violence service development, please contact us at CI_Sexual_Violence_Services@msd.govt.nz. For queries about the family violence work programme, please contact us at Family_Violence_CPP@msd.govt.nz By Ministry of Social Development 12 June 2019