Family Harm is NOT ok! This an ethos we stand by for our organisation. Because of this we have a dedicated service provision for the response & support of individuals affected by family harm.
Tūtaki Youth Inc. works with the New Zealand Police to prevent family-harm. We follow-up with every police attended incident in the Stratford-Eltham-Kaponga areas. Our Preventions Social Worker will complete a home visit and offer support, advice, information about services available to them and/or ongoing support to the victim, offender, and any young people within the home. This can include protection orders, parenting orders, relocation assistance and individual care management plans.
Just as Tūtaki provides support to Police attended family harm incidences, support is also provided to those that are unreported. Tūtaki’s goal is to reduce the cycle of family harm. We want to see an increase in preventative reporting.
To access to our family harm services can be obtained through the follow-up meetings after police attended incidents or by referring to us through our referral process.
What is Family Harm?
Family Harm is defined as any violent act inflicted by one family member on another. Family Harm has many forms including: physical, sexual, emotional or economic abuse. It also includes neglect (passive abuse) which is mainly inflicted on children.
New Zealand has a serious and life threatening epidemic of family harm. 33% of women have experienced physical and/or sexual violence from an intimate partner at some time in their life. This statistic ranks New Zealand 5th of all 36 OECD countries.
Of the 101,981 family harm investigations by New Zealand Police in 2014, 62% had children present.
In 2014, NZ Police recorded 10 homicides of children and young people under the age of 20 years by a family member
Locally we attend around 800 incidences of family harm in rural Taranaki. 40% of everything that police attend are in the field of family harm. 56% of all homicides are related with family harm. Less than 20% of all family harm is reported,
There are so many more statistics that reflect the awful picture that is family harm in New Zealand. Tūtaki Youth Inc. acknowledges that family harm is a contributing factor to youth offending. We understand that in order to help our young people to become happy, connected, contributing members of their communities we need to help them be safe and secure in their homes.
If you or someone you know is affected by family harm you can contact us by dropping into our facility or by contacting us here.
Remember, Family Harm is NOT ok!