Enhancing Safety Amid DFV Risk: Multi-Systemic Contributors for Litigating Parents and Their Children
Tracks
Ballroom 4: In-Person Only
| Tuesday, November 24, 2026 |
| 11:10 AM - 11:30 AM |
| Ballroom 4 |
Overview
Jess Barnes, The Bouverie Centre, La Trobe University
Three Key Learnings
1. We provide actionable insights into the supports and processes parents themselves identify as protective.
2. We offer Family Courts a robust evidence base for designing and customising court pathways and parent-facing resources that meaningfully address the needs of parents at risk of further harms or of harming.
3. We encourage policymakers and practitioners to consider, beyond an episode of engagement, how safety is supported and maintained through multi-systemic and multi-temporal means.
Speaker
Ms Jess Barnes
PhD Candidate
The Bouverie Centre, La Trobe University
Enhancing Safety Amid DFV Risk: Multi-Systemic Contributors for Litigating Parents and Their Children
Presentation Overview
Involvement in family court proceedings represents one of the most dangerous times in family life. Prospective research with this population is rare. In partnerships with the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia* we focused on factors contributing to increased wellbeing and safety for parents and their children at high risk of domestic and family violence.
In this study, utilising structured-tabular thematic analysis, we followed parents through the first year of family court proceedings. We identified 281 parents who reported high risk at entry to court. At the one-year mark we asked them, “what helped you and your children to feel safer?”.
This paper details our findings on chief safety enhancing factors. We note concentric, mutually re-enforcing rings of action. We first detail effective actions of the individual parent and help seeking behaviours. We then consider the multi-layered, coordinated systemic responses that collectively created a safety promoting context, from the support offered by kin, allies and community, to the empathic and expert support offered by mental health and medical specialists to the responses of services and systems, including the criminal justice system, and Family Court processes.
Of note, we detail important differences in the safety promoting environment for children, focusing on actions of the parent and the safeguards resulting from Family Court events, orders and details of parenting orders.
These findings will assist in the development of new resources for litigants at risk of DFV harm or harming.
* Funded by the Australian Research Council and conducted in partnership with the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (FCFCOA) and Relationships Australia South Australia.
In this study, utilising structured-tabular thematic analysis, we followed parents through the first year of family court proceedings. We identified 281 parents who reported high risk at entry to court. At the one-year mark we asked them, “what helped you and your children to feel safer?”.
This paper details our findings on chief safety enhancing factors. We note concentric, mutually re-enforcing rings of action. We first detail effective actions of the individual parent and help seeking behaviours. We then consider the multi-layered, coordinated systemic responses that collectively created a safety promoting context, from the support offered by kin, allies and community, to the empathic and expert support offered by mental health and medical specialists to the responses of services and systems, including the criminal justice system, and Family Court processes.
Of note, we detail important differences in the safety promoting environment for children, focusing on actions of the parent and the safeguards resulting from Family Court events, orders and details of parenting orders.
These findings will assist in the development of new resources for litigants at risk of DFV harm or harming.
* Funded by the Australian Research Council and conducted in partnership with the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (FCFCOA) and Relationships Australia South Australia.
Biography
Jess is an experienced Registered Nurse and former Mental Health Specialist Family Violence Advisor. Qualifications in Men’s Behaviour Change and Tertiary Education, and a Master’s in Infant Mental Health, combined with clinical and teaching experience, led Jess to undertake her current PhD. Focusing on parents experiencing DFV while separating through the family court, Jess is working with experts by experience to develop an online resource aimed at enhancing safety during family court litigation.
