Briefing paper, 13 April 2020

Women’s Safety NSW has surveyed its members who are specialist domestic violence workers in NSW about the impact of COVID-19 on child contact, shared care and family law arrangements in the context of domestic and family violence and found what the chief executive, Hayley Foster, has described as “worrying” results.

Nearly four out of five of the 56 domestic violence workers who responded to the state-wide survey reported they had already seen an increase in clients who were experiencing issues in relation to child contact, shared care and family law since the outbreak of COVID-19, whilst two in three of these workers reported they were seeing an increase in the complexity of such cases.

Over three-quarters (77.3%) of domestic violence workers surveyed reported that safe places for child handovers with their abusive ex-partners no longer being open or available was a serious issue of concern for clients in the context of COVID-19, with many women having to compromise their personal safety through makeshift, informal handover arrangements.

The survey also reveals that three-quarters (75%) of frontline domestic violence workers hold “serious concerns” about the numbers of women succumbing to child contact with a violent parent due to their own lack of other supports in the context of COVID-19. (From the website). See also the earlier Summary report (#6593) and Update (#6592). Record #6591