An ongoing duty to care
This is the second article in a 7-part series about one of the most significant contributions to eliminating family violence in Aotearoa New Zealand in the last decade.
The Eighth Report from the Family Violence Death Review Committee (FVDRC) was released in March 2023 and is titled An Ongoing Duty to Care: Responding to survivors of family violence homicide | He tauwhiro haere te mahi: Hei urupare ki ngā toiora o te ririhau ā-whānau.
It builds on the FVDRC’s Seventh Report, which first addressed how Aotearoa New Zealand should look at its duty to care for people affected by family violence. The Eighth Report focuses on how we care for survivors.
Documenting the lived experiences of survivors of a family violence homicide, mostly children, the report looks at the lack of support available for them and the gaps that exist within financial and social support systems in the aftermath of a family violence death.
FVDRC Chair Dr Fiona Cram MNZM says in her introduction:
“The Family Violence Death Review Committee’s (the Committee’s) work includes the examination of case files …[that] contain the histories of the lives of those who have died and those who have killed. They also often contain details about those who have been left behind, some of whom were present when the death occurred, in the same room or in the same house. There are others left behind, who were closely related to the person who was killed and/or the one who killed, who have been elsewhere at the time of the death. In this way, the repercussions of family violence deaths reverberate within and beyond the walls of a single home, reaching into the lives of whānau and family members left behind.
“When we widened our focus to include those left behind, we wondered what happened to the children impacted by events. Had brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, grandchildren, nieces and nephews been looked after by the government agencies that had a duty to care for them? Had the after-care system that we recommended in 2013 come to fruition to support the healing of children impacted by a family violence death?”
Several solutions are recommended, including providing both targeted support to surviving children and other whānau members to help them re-engage at points in time and more universal support across a variety of government services because all of their needs may not be apparent.
This means it is important to empower social service providers to develop holistic support services implemented by a public health model that follow and wrap around survivors of family violence for as long as they are needed.
The Committee also suggested an ideal solution could include a professional ally that acts as a ‘super advocate’ to guide and track the survivor(s) or family members to recognise ongoing impacts of loss, to locate and obtain resources, and to lean on in difficult times. This tailor-led approach would be family- or whānau-led and responsive to their needs and timeframes.
Read the report
Follow this link to the full report and read more about the FVDRC’s recommendations for a new system for after-care support.
