ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic led to increases in family violence in Australia and elsewhere. In response, organisations in the domestic and family violence (DFV) sector, had to adapt to the emerging public health measures and worked collaboratively to protect the most vulnerable in the community. These services, including courts, rapidly transformed their methods of service delivery that are likely to continue for some time. But what have been the implications/impacts of these rapid changes on the DFV service sector in Australia? How have these impacts informed the future needs of the DFV sector? And what is needed to strengthen this community sector of the future? This article reports on the findings of a national research project examining the impacts of COVID-19 on the DFV service sector and the adaptations and innovations that emerged in response. The study highlights that the surge in demand for services put pressure on an already overwhelmed workforce/service sector and provided an opportunity for front line workers to contribute to building a robust sector to respond to future crisis events. These findings have significant implications for future DFV sector service delivery, and for the social work profession as a whole. Community organisations in the domestic and family violence (DFV) sector have borne the brunt of responding to women and children during the onset of COVID-19 pandemic. This Australia-wide survey describes the ways in which the sector was impacted and the innovative ways they adapted to public health measures to keep women and children safe amidst escalating rates of domestic violence. Global research demonstrated the differential ways the pandemic was experienced, with women living in domestic violence situations more adversely affected than other groups and these findings have been mirrored in Australian studies. The findings of this research also highlight the sector's resourcing needs going forward, given that increased rates of DFV are anticipated in future pandemics or disasters caused by climate change events. This study is a contribution by front line DFV workers to resist the dominant positioning of 'resilience' in the community sector and challenges the notion that a 'return to normal' is possible. Rather the sector is calling for a reconstruction of the meaning of resilience, involving new conversations about the role of the state, a return to local low-cost solutions particularly with regards to the use of technology in the times of crisis, and our relationship with the environment, science and technology.