EXTERNALLY FUNDED RESEARCH PROJECTS
Family violence and faith communities: Engaging with faith leaders and communities in Victoria
Background
This research will apply a Victoria-specific lens to examine how the Victorian state government, institutions and communities have engaged with faith leaders from both established and emerging migration and refugee communities. The Royal Commission into Family Violence (RCFV), which released its findings in 2016, recommended that faith leaders and communities establish processes for examining the ways in which they currently respond to family violence and whether any of their practices operate as restraints to the prevention of, reporting of or recovery from DFV, or whether they are used by perpetrators to excuse or condone violent behaviour (Recommendation 165). This project will particularly focus on whether changes have occurred since the recommendations of the RCFV, what pressing issues and challenges faith leaders or communities have, and whether experiences differ between established and emerging communities. Using participants’ own voices, this research will meet the needs, interests and experiences of people from faith communities in Victoria, and it will offer opportunities for knowledge translation that supports the application of research to policy and practice.