21 Mar 2018

NGO pulls out of family violence pilot over safety concerns

From Nine To Noon, 9:10 am on 21 March 2018

A Christchurch domestic violence service has walked away from a police-led pilot scheme because it could not get assurances about the work load it was committing to. 

The Integrated Safety Response pilot, known as IRS, has been operating in Christchurch and Waikato since 2016. 

It brings together a range of government agencies, and family violence specialist, and is led by police.  

The chief executive of Aviva, formerly the Christchurch Women's Refuge, Nicola Woodward told Nine to Noon they were concerned about retaining control over how they dealt with the workload, and the amount of time they commit to their clients.   

Ms Woodward said nothing was more important to them than being able to form a trusting relationship with the people they were trying to connect with - both those vulnerable to violence and those vulnerable to using violence.   

"In order to do that we have to commit time. People are reluctant for many reasons to engage, and often have multiple issues going on in their lives, which means it is very difficult to commit time and trust.

"This means we have a responsibility to manage the workloads of our staff very very carefully. So they have the time to commit to forming that relationship," she said. 

Ms Woodward said there was a sense that the referrals from the IRS pathway were viewed as more important than other referrals, regardless of the level of risk. 

She said they attempted to negotiate with police, but were told they needed to sign the contract and then discuss workload. 

Typically about a third Aviva's demand comes via police. 

Ms Woodward said it was incredibly important to them to retain the capacity to deal with people who walk through the front door and call the 0800 number. 

"During the pilot we weren't able to assure that in the way we would like.

"We had to put a temporarily hold on referrals directly from the Canterbury DHB and Oranga Tamariki. Now that we are no longer part of the pilot we have been able to open up those referral pathways again," she said.