by Sahar Foladi
A new documentary ‘Unanswered Calls’ shines light on the young “silent victims” experiencing family violence.
The production led by Safe Steps, reveals the shocking first-hand experiences of young people falling through the cracks with no dedicated services to provide advice or support to escape family violence.
Safe Steps chief exevutive officer Dr Chelsea Tobin calls for a dedicated national service for the youth.
It calls on young people to co-design a future where they have the supports, they need at the correct place and time particularly on digital platforms.
“Our system still largely views children as extensions of their protective parent in family violence situations.
“Young Australians are telling us it’s unclear where to find support that’s relevant to them.
“We need dedicated national services for youth, to ensure they have somewhere to turn to escape family violence. We need to ensure their voices are heard,” Dr Tobin said.
In the documentary young people have bravely shared their experiences of family and domestic violence, including: “I also needed someone to sit me down and tell me I wasn’t the problem, because throughout my whole experience, that’s all I’ve ever felt, that I was the problem.”
The movie premiered in Melbourne on Wednesday 19 February before being shown in States.
The film features interviews with young people with lived experiences of family violence, as well as family violence prevention advocate, Rosie Batty AO; Commissioner for Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence, Micaela Cronin; and Liana Buchanan, Victoria’s Principal Commissioner for Children and Young People.
“This is not just a film, it’s a wake-up call…and we need the call answered,” Dr Tobin said.
“Young people are in critical stages of cognitive, emotional, and social development, making them particularly vulnerable to the effects of trauma. If not addressed, this can become intergenerational trauma.”
According to Crime Statistics Agency data, there were 2651reported family violence incidents in Greater Dandenong in 2023-24.
In more than 800 (almost 31 per cent) of the incidents there was a child present either as a victim or witness.
The highest rating form of abuse was verbal and emotional followed by physical abuse in Greater Dandenong Council.
Dr Fiona Giles is a research fellow at Safer Families Centre looks to best support women and families experiencing domestic and family violence within the health system.
“Domestic and family violence even if they’re (young people) not directed affected can really affect children and young people’s physical and mental wellbeing, impact development and their schooling,” she says.
Although her work is not directly with young people, she has interviewed a large number of women about their experiences who say they struggle to not only find resources for themselves but also their children.
“It’s very hard and they look for services that can support them and their children.
“Often, they have to go to the private sector like psychologists, but they aren’t necessarily trained in providing what we call violence and trauma informed care.
“Sometimes the psychologists don’t really understand the dynamic of domestic and family violence, so as well intentioned they are, they can sometimes do more harm than good.”
She says increased funding in prevention programs and working with children and young people to change attitude and gender norms can help as part of that.
The formation and maintenance of positive relationships between the non-offending parent (usually the mother) and the child is proven to be one of the strongest aspect in a domestic violence.
Dr Giles also calls for investment in those services that can strengthen the relationships as well as organisations such as Safe Steps.
“From therapeutic point of view, that relationship to be strong is a very protective factor but we also know preparators also sabotage that relationship constantly fighting that dynamic.”
The highest recorded offence in Greater Dandenong in 2024 was the breach of family violence order (1557), family violence common assault (597) and criminal damage (277), with 55.7 per cent of resolved offences resulting in arrests in 2024 and 44 per cent left without arrest.
Out of the 55.7 percent only 16 per cent of the solved offences resulted in a summon.
There’s 41 number of victims in Family violence intervention order (FVIO) application in children’s court and 2179 in Magistrates court for Greater Dandenong.
Safe Steps is Victoria’s only 24/7 family violence response centre providing family and domestic violence information and support, safety planning and risk assessment, access to crisis accommodation.
It also delivers part of the national 1800 RESPECT support service. On average, Safe Steps handles around 130,000 calls every year to support people fleeing violence – this can be up to 400 calls a day. Last year, Safe Steps provided 33,000 nights of crisis accommodation for people who were not safe to go home.
