Family violence and faith communities: engaging with faith leaders and communities in Victoria

Principal Investigator: Hyein Ellen Cho

Project collaborator: Liana Papoutsis

Project description

This research will apply a Victorian-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 was released in 2016, recommended that faith leaders and communities establish processes for examining the ways in which they currently respond to
family violence in their communities 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 number 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 the experiences differ between established and emerging communities. Using participants’ own voices, this research will ensure that it meets the needs, interests and experiences of people from faith communities in Victoria, and it offers opportunities for knowledge translation that supports the application of research to policy and practice.

For further details about this research, please contact the project lead, Dr Hyein Ellen Cho, via email: ellen.cho@monash.edu

Outputs

• Research Brief. Cho, Hyein Ellen; Papoutsis, Liana; Smith, Shona (2023). Faith-based communities and family violence in Victoria. Monash University. Online resource. https://doi.org/10.26180/23118773.v1

Funding acknowledgement

This project is funded via the State Government’s Victorian Higher Education State Investment Fund (VHESIF).