Domestic violence and victim support : a case study of inter-agency collaboration

Abstract

Every effort should be made for victims of Domestic Violence to receive a holistic service addressing their needs, which many times revolve around safety, lack of financial independence, alternative accommodation and legal assistance.

Multi-sectoral cooperation can only be achieved if there is a concerted effort from all the effective parties to join forces and work together towards improving the quality and effectiveness of the services provided. However, a study carried out by the National Audit Office during 2015, showed that although a number of government entities do work together on certain aspects of this social concern, there is still a lack of inter-agency collaboration amongst them. Furthermore, the NAO made observations on the lack of allocated resources to each entity, the importance of awareness raising, the need of a shared and harmonized database between the reviewed entities, the possibility of setting up a multi-disciplinary victim support team, the necessity to focus on the perpetrator and the importance of an effective enforcement system.

This study, thus investigates the inter-agency collaboration amongst a number of professionals who assist victims experiencing Violence against Women and Gender-Based Violence. Using a qualitative approach, secondary data was collected during ten semi-structured interviews with elite interviewees. This enabled the researcher in understanding the participants’ unique experience and to understand the barriers they encounter with other professionals. This study presents a number of findings based on the observations made by the NAO. Overall, the outcome of the investigation outlined that multi-agency approach has been developed between a number of agencies. However, communication breakdown can act as a major barrier. Moreover, chronically scarce resources often hinders many professionals to provide a highquality service.

Finally, this study puts forward a number of recommendations, based on evidence-based research, which could contribute for the benefit of the institutions concerned towards the relative policies that need to be devised.