What is Safe at Home

Safe at Home was introduced by the Tasmanian Government in 2004 as an integrated criminal justice response to family violence.  It is underpinned by the Family Violence Act 2004 (Tas).

Safe at Home is a service system that involves a range of services working together to address the risk and safety needs of victim-survivors and their children, while holding perpetrators of family violence accountable for their behaviour.

Safe at Home utilises a pro-intervention policy to address family violence, complemented by a human services approach to support recovery and change.

The objectives of the Safe at Home service system are to:

• Improve the safety and security for adult and child victim-survivors of family violence in the short and long term
• Ensure that offenders are held accountable for family violence as a public crime and change their offending behaviour
• Reduce the incidence and severity of family violence in the longer term
• Minimise the negative impacts of contact with the criminal justice system on adult and child victim-survivors.

Safe at Home Partners

Safe at Home represents a partnership between six State Government Departments and comprises of eleven business units. The Department of Justice is the lead agency, and Tasmania Police is the gatekeeper to the integrated response. Victim-survivors and their children, and perpetrators enter the Safe at Home service system when a family violence or family argument report is made to Tasmania Police.

Legislation and Governance

On 26 November 2004 the Tasmanian Parliament passed the Family Violence Bill, Tasmania's first stand alone family violence legislation. The Family Violence Act 2004 came into effect in March 2005.

Since 2005, a number of legislative reforms have amended the Family Violence Act 2004 to ensure laws sufficiently protect victim-survivors and ensure perpetrators are appropriately punished for the severity of their crimes.

The Tasmania Family Violence Act 2004 is the legislative framework that underpins the Safe at Home program. A copy of the legislation can be obtained from the Tasmanian Legislation - Family Violence Act 2004 website.

A robust governance framework was developed and implemented to allow frank discussions to be held between different agencies to resolve practical and policy issues, and to provide transparent decision-making processes.

The Family Violence Strategic Oversight Committee (SOC) has overall responsibility for the Safe at Home initiative with senior representatives from Department of Premier and Cabinet, Department of Justice, Department of Police, Fire and Emergency Management, Department of Health and Department for Education, Children and Young People.  Each of these Departments are also represented on the Inter-Departmental Committee (IDC).

The Safe at Home Inter-Departmental Committee (IDC) is responsible for the development and ongoing implementation of the Safe at Home program.

Safe at Home Regional Coordinating Committees (RCC) coordinate activities and service delivery in each region, and report unresolved policy or system design matters to the IDC.

Everyone at all levels have a responsibility to eliminate family violence in our community.

Safety Planning and Risk Assessment

As part of the Safe at Home response, a shared evidence-based risk assessment screening tool was developed by Tasmania Police and the Department of Justice. The tool is used by operational police when attending a family violence incident to assist in assessing the risk of a victim-survivor experiencing future violence, support consistent operational responses, and inform the ICC process.

Integrated Case Coordination

Integrated Case Coordination (ICC) is a key feature of Safe at Home – it acts as a safety hub in each region for family violence cases, ensuring that all risk and safety aspects of family violence cases are discussed and appropriate actions are taken. ICC meetings are held on a weekly basis throughout Tasmania and are attended by service providers in the Safe at Home service system.

Achievements

Gold Australian Crime Prevention Award 2019

On the 26th of November 2019, the Safe at Home program won a Gold Award in the Australian Crime Prevention Awards in recognition for its response to family violence. The annual Awards recognise and reward good practice in the prevention or reduction of violence and other types of crime in Australia. The Awards are managed by the Australian Institute of Criminology and play a vital role in highlighting effective community-based initiatives to prevent crime and violence, before it actually occurs.

Information System

The Safe at Home Information Management System (SIMS) has greatly enhanced the performance of Safe at Home. SIMS became operational in 2012 and incorporates business rules that reinforce the integrated response to family violence. The system supports the nomination of case coordinators, transfer of workflow activities from one agency to another, produces notifications to review expiry of family violence orders, and provides a transparent record of ICC decision making and accountability.

Please contact us for more information.