Taranaki Safe Families Collaborative

Taranaki Safe Families collaborative exists to raise awareness of family violence in Taranaki, to educate and promote initiatives that prevent family violence and to promote a co-ordinated, collaborative and strategic approach to family violence prevention and support.

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Background:

Taranaki Safe Families Trust Over the last 15 years three groups - Family Violence Focus Group (FVFG), Taranaki Te Rito Group and South Taranaki Family Violence Network - have worked extensively throughout the Taranaki region raising awareness regarding family violence and its impact on victims, their families and the wider community.

Over this period there has been significant progress made in regards to NGO’s and statutory agencies establishing closer working relationships and working together to eliminate violence in our community. Progress to date as follows:

Conferences, training seminars, developed resources, Community awareness raising events, local media campaign, billboards in schools, networking forums to encourage an increase in collaboration, establishing wider community relationships and partnership.

The opportunity to set up a more inclusive and cohesive family violence collaborative in Taranaki came about due to a number of factors:

A desire for a collaborative with more effective communication that is more inclusive, allows people to participate and their contributions to be valued and respected
The NP Safer Community Council which the Family Violence Focus Group (FVFG) sits under decided to wind up
The FVFG’s desire to continue its family violence work in the community
The Taranaki Te Rito Group’s decision to review their structure and re-brand themselves

A Working Party was established in June 2008 to develop a new structure that will enhance collaboration within the Taranaki family violence sector. The working party is made up of representatives of the current Taranaki Te Rito Group, New Plymouth Family Violence Focus Group & South Taranaki Family Violence Network. It has the mandate from the groups to conduct this work on their behalf.

Working Party members are:

Heather Gifford – DoVe

Nathalie Tiatia – TDHB Family Violence Intervention Coordinator

Michele Coe – Department for Courts – MOJ

Karen Southall – HRC Family Counselling

Craig Campbell-Smart – NPDC – Community Development

Awhina Cameron – Tu Tama Wahine O Taranaki

Mary Beaumont – Taranaki Community Law

We want to move forward as a united collaborative that encompasses the Te Rito strategy, community initiatives and builds on the family violence prevention work undertaken over the last few years.

The tasks of the Working Party consist of developing a structure which will describe how the groups interact. A collaborative agreement, terms of reference (TOR), communication plan and recruitment documents required to employ a Coordinator will be developed. An implementation plan in regards to the amalgamation of the groups has been established.

Progress to date

A draft structure for a Taranaki wide family violence collaborative has been developed and a consultation process completed. We have established key principles and the Working Party has identified that sustainability in terms of family violence prevention is very important to us as a group. A mechanism to assist with this is incorporated in the structure.

We gained endorsement from the South Taranaki Family Violence Network, New Plymouth FVFG & the Taranaki Te Rito group to proceed in developing the next stage of the structure. An invitation was issued to all groups to be part of a Taranaki wide collaborative and was accepted.

One of the central components of the draft structure is the employment of a Coordinator. There is consensus among the groups that a Coordinator would be a valuable resource for the whole collaborative.

An extensive process was undertaken to appoint a new fund holder agency for the Te Rito funding for a Coordinator position. This process resulted in Tu Tama Wahine O Taranaki being endorsed in this role by the Collaborative.

As part of the implementation of the new structure a Trust Deed was drafted and the inaugural meeting of the Taranaki Safe Families Trust was held on the 5^th of November 2008 and Trustees appointed. The Trust has now been incorporated under the Charitable Trust Act 1957.

Trustees are:

Heather Gifford

Michele Coe

Jillian Ridgewell

Sias Hoffman

Michelle Thompson

Mary Beaumont

The Working Party has developed the documents necessary to recruit a Taranaki Family Violence Collaborative Coordinator and is working on the agreement between the Collaborative and Te Rito Fund Holder – Tu Tama Wahine O Taranaki.

Taranaki Safe Families Collaborative - Mission Statement

The Taranaki Safe Families Collaborative mission statement is that:

"That all families in Taranaki will have safe, respectful and healthy relationships that are free from violence"

"Tuia ki runga, tuia ki raro. Tuia ki waho, tuia ki roto. Tuia te here tangata.Tihei Mauri Ora"

Aims

The aims of the Taranaki Safe Families Collaborative are as follows:

To raise awareness of family violence issues in the Taranaki Region
Undertake education and promotion initiatives on the prevention of family violence in the Taranaki Region
Increase the effectiveness of family violence services by supporting collaboration between agencies
To assist with the strategic development and planning of family violence initiatives

Objectives

Given the recent restructuring the focus of the Tarananki Safe Families Trust is on the transitioning phase, moving towards full implementation by June 2010. Four objectives are focussed on:

Structure – implement the new structure to strengthen the Taranaki Safe Families Collaborative
Collaboration – Strengthen the collaborative of agencies that provide Family Violence services throughout the Taranaki Region to ensure that responses to victims, perpetrators and their families are effective and appropriate
Planning – Develop and comprehensive Strategic Plan for the period July 2010 to June 2013
Communication – Develop a communication plan that encompasses internal (between all collaborative members) and external (the wider Taranaki community)

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