Whittlesea CALD Communities Family Violence Research Report 2012 | Page 22

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Consultations
Community consultation was a critical part of the scoping exercise. The family violence service model
is intended to be tailored to CALD communities in the City of Whittlesea and it is therefore crucial
that it is responsive to and informed by local experience.
The aim of conducting community consultations was to utilise the experience of the communities
themselves to inform the project in relation improvements in service access and the potential
strategies required to better address family violence within CALD communities.
Community consultations were conducted with three different cohorts:
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female survivors of family violence;
young people;
community and religious leaders;

Consultations were also conducted with service providers who offer services to people in the City of
Whittlesea and who assist either victims or perpetrators of family violence.
All community engagement activities of the project team were guided by the Whittlesea Community
Engagement Framework and Principles.
Following discussions within the WCF CALD Cluster interview questions were devised to guide the
conduct of semi-structured interviews with each cohort.

Female Survivors of Family Violence/Women
The WCF CALD Cluster felt that consulting with female survivors of family violence was the most
critical way to research women’s experiences, any barriers they encountered and how these barriers
impacted on their ability to seek help.
Consultations were conducted with a sample of women from CALD backgrounds who had
experienced family violence and who currently reside in the City of Whittlesea.
In total 10 women were recruited through the Arabic Speaking Settlement Support Worker at
Whittlesea Community Connections, caseworkers at Berry Street Family Violence Services and a Sikh
religious leader. Two further case studies of women who had experienced family violence and
sought assistance from service providers were also incorporated into the findings.
Interviews were conducted by the Project Leader either face-to-face or by phone with the Arabic
Speaking Settlement Support Worker present to provide interpreting services for Arabic speaking
women where necessary.
The women were asked questions from a set interview format (see Appendix 1).

Young People
A group consultation was conducted with two groups of young people from CALD backgrounds.
In total, 5 young people participated in the group consultations with groups separated according to
gender, one group of two girls and one group of three boys.