MARAM

The family violence Multi-Agency Risk Assessment and Management (MARAM) framework provides guidance to organisations prescribed under regulations that have responsibilities in assessing and managing family violence risk.¹ The framework is designed to ensure services are effectively identifying, assessing and managing family violence risk. A range of organisations were prescribed under MARAM in September 2018.

79% of the primary prevention workforce indicated that they had heard of the MARAM framework²; and of these,
52% understood that the organisation that they currently worked for was prescribed to align with the MARAM framework.³

By organisation type, the proportion of respondents who understood that their organisation was prescribed under MARAM was:

highest among those working in school education (70%), community organisations (68%) and community health (63%); and
lowest among those employed in health promotion (21%) and women’s health (26%).

Of those who worked for organisations prescribed to align with the MARAM framework, in relation to identifying risk for victim survivors, understanding of one’s professional responsibilities under the framework was moderate (56%). Additionally, consistent usage of MARAM tools (including a structured professional judgement approach) in identifying or assessing family violence risk was relatively low (34%).

Understanding and usage levels differed across certain demographic cohorts, including:
- Organisation type – understanding and usage was:
  - generally higher among those working in local council / government; and
  - lower for those employed in community health as well as policy, research and advocacy – noting that these respondents were also more likely than others to understand that their organisation was not prescribed under MARAM.
- Employment basis – those employed in ongoing roles generally reported higher understanding and usage compared to those in fixed-term roles.
- Years of experience – understanding and usage was highest among those who had been working in their current role for more than 10 years.
- Organisation size – those working in medium-sized organisations (50-199 employees) reported higher usage of MARAM tools in identifying or assessing family violence risk, compared to those working in smaller (1-49 employees) and larger (200 or more employees) organisations.

As outlined earlier, in primary prevention roles, employees may identify or receive disclosures of family violence.

53% of the primary prevention workforce reported that they had made a referral and / or shared information as a result of identifying or receiving a disclosure of family violence⁴; and of these,
60% felt that they had a ‘good’ or ‘very good’ understanding of their responsibilities to share information relating to family violence risk under relevant Information Sharing Schemes and privacy law.⁵

By organisation type, reported understanding of information sharing responsibilities was:

highest among those employed in community organisations (74%); and
lowest among those working in health promotion (33%) and policy, research and advocacy (35%) – these respondents were also more likely than others to report that they have never made a referral and/or shared information as a result of identifying or receiving a disclosure of family violence.

Figure 13 shows that conduct of information sharing activities under the Family Violence Information Sharing Scheme (FVISS) was moderate, with:

the most common activity undertaken in the past year being the proactive sharing of information with another organisation (45%); and
two-in-five indicating that they had not undertaken any information sharing activities under the FVISS in the past year (40%).

Figure 13: Information sharing relating to family violence risk

Download' Figure 13: Information sharing relating to family violence risk '

By organisation type, the level of information sharing activity was:
- highest among those working in community organisations (75% had undertaken at least one activity in the past year) – which aligns with this cohort’s high understanding of information sharing responsibilities, as discussed earlier; and
- lowest among those employed in policy, research and advocacy (69% had not conducted any of the listed activities in the past year) – again aligning with this cohort’s relatively low level of understanding of their responsibilities in this area, coupled with the low proportion reporting that they had ever made a referral and/or shared information as a result of identifying or receiving a disclosure of family violence.
Results also differed by employment basis – those holding ongoing full-time roles reported higher levels of information sharing activity (73% undertook at least one activity in the past year), while those in fixed-term part-time roles reported the lowest activity (39%).

Footnotes

Family Violence Multi Agency Risk Assessment and Management
Q42. Before today, had you heard of the Multi-Agency Risk Assessment and Management (MARAM) framework? (n=474)
Q43. Is the organisation that you work for in your current role prescribed to align with the Multi-Agency Risk Assessment and Management (MARAM) framework? (n=373)
Q45. Have you ever made a referral and/or shared information as a result of identifying or receiving a disclosure of family violence? (n=467)
Q46. Please rate your understanding of your responsibilities to share information relating to family violence risk under the Family Violence Information Sharing Scheme (FVISS), Child Information Sharing Scheme (CISS) and relevant privacy law. (n=210)

Updated 9 July 2021