Month: March 2017

Abstract:

This Horizons report sets out the findings of the PAThways and Research In Collaborative Inter-Agency practice (the PATRICIA project). It is one of five publications by ANROWS related to the project. The PATRICIA project focused on the collaborative relationship between specialist community based domestic and family violence (DFV) support services
for women and their children, and statutory child protection (CP) organisations. The creation of a service system which responds to the safety and wellbeing of women and their children, alongside supporting accountability for those who perpetrate domestic and family violence (mainly, but not exclusively, male intimate partners and ex-partners), has
been a circuitous journey. It is a complex system to negotiate, not only for the woman and children, but also for workers, managers, and policy workers in child protection organisations and community sector or non-government organisations (CSOs/NGOs) (Stanley, Miller, Foster, & Thomson, 2011)

Abstract:

PAThways and Research In Collaborative Inter-Agency practice
(the PATRICIA Project) is an action research project focused
on the collaborative relationship between specialist community based
domestic and family violence (DFV) support services for women and their children, and statutory child protection (CP) organisations. The PATRICIA Project drew together a diverse range of participants from five states of Australia (New South Wales [NSW], Queensland [Qld], South Australia [SA], Victoria [Vic.], and Western Australia [WA]).

The PATRICIA Project comprised five components of research, each with its own methodology, set within an action research framework (see full publication) that facilitated a process of changing things while simultaneously studying the “problems” of developing collaborative work and strengthening perpetrator accountability (Wicks, Reason, & Bradbury, 2008). The intended outcome was to use evidence to foster greater collaboration to support
the safety and wellbeing of women and their children, and
strengthen accountability for perpetrators of DFV.