Aboriginal Family Healing Model will support Aboriginal families experiencing DFV, including the persons using violence, where they wish to remain in contact as a family but want the violence to end.

Project goals

The Aboriginal Family Healing Model will build on an Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations (ACCOs) existing healing services/programs and broader trauma informed service delivery to provide culturally responsive holistic responses to families experiencing domestic and family violence (DFV) that integrate Aboriginal ways of knowing, being and doing. The Model will be delivered by an ACCO and aims to strengthen safety, accountability, functionality, and healing for all members of the family.

The Model offers a holistic approach to healing for Aboriginal families experiencing or at risk of experiencing DFV. The Model will compliment or provide an alternative to the mainstream systems response to DFV which focuses on separating families. Delivery by an ACCO will ensure families receive culturally safe DFV support.

This Model aims to understand and acknowledge that safety for Aboriginal communities is not one size fits all and many families want safety and to work together to heal from trauma. The Model recognises DFV is complex with many underlying drivers such as social determinants of violence, colonisation and intergenerational trauma. The Model provides integrated holistic services that recognise different forms of violence abuse and neglect are often overlapping and co-occurring ie DFV, sexual assault and child abuse and neglect may be experienced by individual family members and/or the whole family.

Scope

The Aboriginal Family Healing Model will be implemented as a program/service in an ACCO through co design, localised decision making and autonomy.

The successful tenderer is required to:

• be an ACCO (joint tenders /or offers from consortia with an ACCO lead will be considered).
• provide services currently (or be willing to start providing these services) to Aboriginal people experiencing DFV and other forms of violence abuse and neglect including people using violence, children and other kin.
• have relationships and partnerships with relevant culturally responsive trauma informed services in your local community.
• work with the DCJ, Transforming Aboriginal Outcomes DFV team to co-design and implement the model into a program/service for your ACCO.
• participate in an evaluation of the program.

This EOI is to understand current market interest and ACCO suitability for program delivery. A further Limited Tender is scheduled for late January 2025 for tenderers successful in the EOI.

To learn more about the Aboriginal Family Healing Model and the EOI, information sessions will be held on:

1. 15 November 11:00am to 12:00pm, and

2. 19 November 1.00pm to 2.00pm.

To register to attend, please email TAOFamilyViolence@dcj.nsw.gov.au Include email addresses for all staff who will attend the session and the date you will be attending.

You do not need to submit an EOI to attend the information session. You can attend the information session to learn more before deciding whether to submit an EOI.