User:Peto Australis/Centres Against Sexual Assault

In Victoria (Australia) the Centres Against Sexual Assault (CASA)are non-profit, government funded organisations that provide support and intervention to women, children and men who are victim/survivors of sexual assault. They also work towards the elimination of sexual violence through professional and community education, informing government policy, advocating for law reform and facilitating research to increase community understanding of the nature and incidence of sexual assault.

Organisation

There are 15 CASAs across the state of Victoria and the Victorian Sexual Assault Crisis Line (after hours). These offer free, confidential 24 hour emergency or crisis care for victim/survivors of sexual assault. This includes crisis counselling support, access to medical care and legal services as well as counselling support for adults who were abused in their childhood.

Being believed

Blaming the victim is a common way of dealing with situations about which people feel uncomfortable. A research study of community attitudes to Child Sexual Assault commissioned by the Department of Human Services (then known as Community Services, Victoria) in 1991 showed one in four people believe the child should take the blame for sexual abuse in some cases.

One of the strongest messages from the survivors' experiences is how effectively this attitude of blame can silence victims and allow the assaults to continue. As one survivor points out: "You feel it's your fault. I would get the blame. People would say What did you do to cause this? I was the youngest and the lowest on the ladder. It was always going to be turned around to be my fault. I didn't have a Counsellor or anyone at school to tell."

The Victorian CASAs believe it is important all victim/survivors that come to their centres are met with belief and compassion when they tell of their experiences and that they receive assistance and support.

CASA philosophy

The Victorian CASA Forum is the peak body of the 15 CASAs and is committed to addressing all inequalities within society, which result in the perpetration of sexual violence against women, children and men. The Victorian CASA Forum therefore acknowledges that:

• sexual assault is both a consequence and a reinforcer of the power disparity existing between men and women/children.
• sexual assault occurs along a continuum of violent behaviour which includes: any uninvited sexual behaviour which makes the recipient feel uncomfortable, harassed or afraid; unwanted touching or remarks; sexual harassment; coerced sexual activity; and rape with physical violence and threat to life.
• the impact of sexual assault on the lives of victim/survivors is multi faceted and complex. It includes emotional, social, psychological, legal, health and political consequences. In order to facilitate a victim/survivor's recovery from sexual violence, the Forum recognises the importance of responding to each aspect in an appropriate and effective manner.
• the impact of sexual assault can be compounded by factors relating to the stratification of society by gender, culture, race, ethnicity, age, sexuality, religion, ability and socio economic class.

Consistent with the above knowledge is the belief that:

• sexual assault is a crime against the individual and society. The entire community and all tiers of government should take responsibility for its occurrence and consequences and work towards its elimination.
• all CASAs must work toward the empowerment of service users, through the adoption of a service management (victims' rights advocacy) model where the focus of service provision must be to recent and past victim/survivors of sexual assault. Within this model service users are offered:
• choices and information about the services;
• help with looking at their options
• support in making informed choices and decisions in regards to the systems with which they will come into contact.
• the experience and resulting needs of victim/ survivors of sexual assault must influence the scope and direction of services provided by CASAs.

Advocacy

CASAs provide advocacy in relation to legal choices, physical health concerns and safe accommodation. They provided over 14,500 counselling services to victims of sexual assault in the last 12 months. Over 80% of clients were female. Approximately 30% of clients requiring a service were under the age of 18 years. Advocacy/support is also provided for complainants required to give evidence in criminal proceedings.

Education

CASAs provide Training and Community Education to many audiences through the State such as;

• The Step Program SECASA - A program which investigates strategies that help children and their families who have suffered the effects of abuse, cope more effectively.
• The Respect, Protect, Connect Program SECASA & WHISE - An injury-prevention focused workshop based in secondary schools in the South East Region of Melbourne.
• Personal Safety Success Training Mallee Sexual Assault Unit - This program is a tool to assist and aid with promoting and training protective behaviours to children, so that they may be safe.
• Sexually Abusive Behaviour Treatment Services for children and young people with problem sexual behaviours and sexually abusive behaviours. This Program has been developed in conjunction with the new legislation in the Children, Youth and Families Act 2005. The Children’s Court can now place children aged between 10 -15 years on a Therapeutic Treatment Order who then attend treatment for up to 12 months.

CASA members actively support community campaigns aimed at public education and awareness raising on the issues surrounding sexual assault such as Reclaim The Night (also known as Take Back the Night) and No means No.

Policy

In 2007/08 CASA members worked with the Victorian Department of Education and Early Childhood Development to develop policy and protocols in order to improve responses to sexual assault allegations made in Victorian Government Schools.

A number of CASAs across Victoria have formally joined with Family Violence Services to improve service provision and responses to victims of family violence in keeping with State Government policy of integrating service provision and the expectation that key services such as domestic violence, sexual assault, police, courts and housing services will work together both at a strategic and service delivery level.

The Victoria Police (VP) Code of Practice for the investigation of Sexual Assault continues to be re developed after consultation with CASAs. The VP Sexual Offences & Child Abuse units are staffed by experienced and qualified police members specially trained to assist with responding to and investigating adult sexual assault and child abuse. CASA Forum representatives continue to provide training to these units.

History

Condensed from “Victims like us: the development of the Victorian Centres Against Sexual Assault”

By Lesley Hewitt and Carolyn Worth

1970's

The first Rape Crisis Centre in Victoria, Australia started in September 1974 formed by one of the women's liberation groups, Women Against Rape. This service provided access to medical examinations and counselling for recent adult women victims of sexual assault. The centre operated out of the health service in Collingwood, Victoria that was run by the Victorian Women's Health Collective. The health service was staffed by volunteers and operated free of cost to all women. The Whitlam Government made federal funding, administered through the States, available in 1975 for the establishment of rape crisis centres across Australia. Centres were quickly set up in Adelaide and Sydney. However, the Victorian Government withheld funding from the Rape Crisis Centre due to a disagreement about management and organisational structures. This service ceased operating in December 1975.

The Women's Electoral Lobby (WEL), which had formed in February 1971 as an a-political, non-party lobby also continually lobbied the Victorian Government in relation to rape law reform. Pressure by WEL led to the establishment of the Victorian Rape Study Committee in 1977 within the Department of the Premier. Also, in 1977 the newly appointed Police Surgeon, Peter Bush, approached the Queen Victoria Medical Centre for permission to examine rape victims in their Emergency Department believing that this would provide a better service for women than the Russell Street Police Station. Peter Bush also asked the hospital whether counselling services could be provided on a referral basis to women who had been raped.

The challenge to provide counselling services was accepted by Pat Farrant, the senior social worker in the Department of Psychiatry on behalf of her staff and on 8th August 1977 the social work staff in the Department of Psychiatry started to provide an unfunded counselling service for victims of sexual assault. At the same time gynecological staff at the Queen Victoria Medical Centre began providing medical services for rape victims.

As a result of the work of the Rape Study Committee, chaired by Yolanda Klempfner, the advisor on women's issues to the Liberal Premier Dick Hamer, the state government provided funding to the Queen Victoria Medical Centre to provide a 24 hour counselling service to victims of sexual assault. This ultimately led to the establishment of first Government funded Sexual Assault Centre. In 1979 the Queen Victoria Medical Centre received government funding to establish a room in Casualty for the examination of rape victims with nursing and social work support provided by the hospital. There was also funding for a coordinator of the developing Sexual Assault Centre.

The service developed within a feminist value framework. A major role of the early social workers in the Sexual Assault Centre was to undertake community and professional education around the then dominant understanding of rape.

1980's

The Cain Labor Government (see John Cain II) that came to power in 1982 was elected on a strong platform of women's issues that translated into a commitment to a policy of regionalisation for health services and the establishment of sexual assault services in each Department of Health region. The establishment of these services and their location was decided according to priorities established by the Rape Study Committee.

The second funded service to be established in Victoria was the Geelong Rape Crisis Service who in 1982 was allocated a small private space within the Casualty Section of the Geelong Hospital where medical examinations could be undertaken. In addition, rape victims and their families and friends were offered support by the Collective. In 1984 this service received funding to employ staff.

The establishment of further centres and their location was decided according to priorities established by the Rape Study Committee. Between 1982 - 5 three country sexual assault services were set up in Bendigo, Ballarat and Warmambool and funding was committed to the Northern Metropolitan Region. By the end of 1985 there were six centres either operating or due to commence.

The final report of the working party convened by the Victorian Minister for Health in 1986 "Why Women's Health" recommended the establishment of Centres Against Sexual Assault for women in all Victorian health regions. By this time there were 8 centres against sexual assault including the Gatehouse Centre in the Royal Children's Hospital. At the end of the 1980's there were 13 sexual assault centres across Victoria although there were, and continue to be, variations in funding and service provision across regions and services.

1990's

By 1990 the 13 Centres Against Sexual Assault in Victoria provided a range of services for adult and child victims of sexual assault. Two new centres came into being in the 90's. Upper Murray Centre Against Sexual Assault in 1992 and Eastern Centre Against Sexual Assault in 1995. The existing Centres had commenced meeting informally in 1986 adding new Centres as they were established. The Victorian Centres Against Sexual Assault Forum was formally established in 1992 and was registered as an Incorporated Association in 1994. This organization now operates as a peak body for the fifteen Victorian Centres Against Sexual Assault lobbying government and other organizations, formulating field positions on a wide range of issues and developing links with a large number of relevant organizations.

Pushed by CASA's, governments have responded to the additional categories of victims that have come forward such as female victims of childhood sexual assault, children and young people and male victims of recent and past sexual assault.

Continuing in the tradition that was established by the original Rape Study Committee links have continued to be forged with a variety of organizations to assist victims in obtaining a service. The Rape Law Reform Evaluation Project developed the Police Code of Practice in conjunction with CASA's and Victoria Police in 1992 and reprinted in August 1999 following an evaluation of the original guidelines. Standards of practice for the field were commenced in 1992 and finalized in 2000. A project was completed in 1997 in conjunction with the Family Planning Association of Victoria to improve access to CASA's for people with an intellectual disability.

Conclusion

Sexual assault services in Victoria have developed in 23 years from being unfunded, run by Collectives of feminists with a commitment to Women's Health principles and presenting a challenge to the status quo to a government funded state wide network of 15 centres.

The policy issue women raised in the early days of the women's liberation movement in the case of sexual assault has moved onto the agenda of both major parties attracting funding through a variety of programs. Some of the original activists in this area have become senior bureaucrats and consultants. There is a considerable amount of goodwill towards the funding of sexual assault and family violence programs from all sides of the political spectrum due to a shared history and the difficulty of being against such programs without being seen to be in favour of violence.

CASA's have grown, multiplied and made their own accommodation with the State and government funding. Whether they have fulfilled the promise of their origins and been a practical expression of women's fight against patriarchy leading to substantial changes for women, or whether they have been co-opted to create a well serviced class of victims will be left to the judgment of another generation. They will ponder whether what Sarah Dowse called the Women's Movement Fandango with the State (Dowse 1983) led CASA's to ameliorate the consequences of sexual assault without challenging the underlying causes.

Dowse, S (1983) "The women's movement fandango with the state: the movement's role in public policy since 1972", in Baldock, C and Cass, B (editors) Women, Social Welfare and the State, Allen and Unwin, Sydney, pp.201-222.

See also

• Rape Crisis Center
• Feminist movement

External Links

Victorian Centres Against Sexual Assault