Role of social policy in combating domestic violence and other social issues in australia
Social policies are a by-product of civilized society where both the Government and non governmental institutions come forward to deal with social issues of a country. Australia is one such country that has been considered lucky because of bringing frequent modifications in social policies in order to enhance living standards of Australians. This study has focused on a critical overview of social policies of Australia with special reference to issue of social violence in this country. For that reason, the study has defined social policy along with its features and principles. On the other hand, the study has elaborated role of various agencies of social work practices in Australia. Furthermore, impact of domestic violence policies has been illuminated along with its role in abolishing many kinds of domestic violence. Moreover, some barriers and alternatives have been identified that can be taken seriously in order to maximize the effect of these policies in the welfare of Australia.
Social policies are those public or governmental policies that are created to provide social services and governmental help for the people in need. Main motto of these policies is to enhance living standards of citizens by taking care of human welfare. In opinion of Margalit (2013), social policies work as a response to any kind of social needs. In other words, social policies intend to improve well being of people especially of those who suffer from any kind of social disadvantage or marginalization. One of the most important features of social policy is that it is planned and not randomly set. In order to be more specific, this can be said that unlike other public policies, social policies are amended generally as a response to some social issues.
Social policies, in Australia, have been employed to change the way its people live. Thus, it can be added that social policies have a great impact on education, work, families, health, disabled people and victims of social violence. According to Jones (2014), welfare system, in this country, has always been structured around families. In this context, it can be mentioned that the earliest form of social policies have been amended for the issue of wage protection and wage fixing so that the wage earner of a family can protect other members of the family. Gradually, more policies have been taken to ensure that the country citizens are equally enjoying social benefits. After the success of those policies, some special social policies have been amended for some specific kind of people who are in special need. For example, the target group of these policies has included widows, disabled people, socially marginalized people and economically challenged people as well (Head & Alford, 2015). For that reason, many initiatives have been started to be taken, both from governmental and non governmental agencies, to establish both individual and social rights among Australian citizens.
Though there are various kinds of social policies but over all mottos of all of them is quite the same. Thus, there are some common principles that these policies follow in order to act lawfully. For example, social policies try to rectify those intentional injustices that have been imposed on someone or on a group of people by someone else. On the other hand, any kind of social injustices that come as an outcome of impact of any social institutions or forces are taken care of by these policies. In addition, any social policy has to be concerned with some basic objectives that critically evaluate social values in order to identify its underlying issues (Kirkman, Kenny & Fox, 2013). Moreover, these policies are based on both political contexts and rational social analysis mandatorily.
Social work has been done through various agencies in Australia that include both governmental and non governmental agencies. In Australia, there is a governmental department for social services that takes the responsibility of coming up with social programs and policies (Chappell & Curtin, 2013). In addition, it is under their responsibility to look after a proper implementation of these policies in order to help the people of Australians to live in a fair society. This department is recently led by Kathryn Campbell, secretary of social service department (australia.gov.au, 2018). Additionally, the social services minister, the minister of major territories and projects and the local government have been involved in providing social services through social policies and programs.
Apart from them, some important personas are also engaged as administrators of social services that include disability service minister and the multicultural affairs minister. This department has replaced the old governmental social service agency namely Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs or FaHCSIA (australia.gov.au, 2018). Some of the important functions of this department are to look after various social issues such as mental health of citizens, social services for children, families and disabled people, support services for families and more. On the other hand, there are some non governmental agencies or organizations that reach people who are in need of social help. For example, Australian Red Cross, Anglican Board of Mission Australia, Action on Poverty, ADRA or Adventist Development and Relief Agency and more are involved as providers of social services in Australia (dfat.gov.au, 2018). In addition, there are many agencies and programs that are solely dedicated to fight social evils like domestic violence, child abuse, and marginalization of women and so on.
As mentioned earlier, Australia has been lucky in frequent changes and modifications that have been successful in understanding shifts in social needs over time. These polices have been proved to be helpful especially in the fields of problems related to children, women and families. For example, Child Endowment Act of 1941, Family Planning Act in 1960 and more have been useful in helping low income households to live a moderate standard of lives (aifs.gov.au, 2018). In addition, these acts came up with several policies that helped women to balance both family and their working life. Legislation for Anti Discrimination in 1980 has been used for the betterment of people belonging from minority groups (aph.gov.au, 2018). Impact of social policies has also been seen in developing condition of children who belong to low income families.
On the other hand, racial discrimination has also been attempted to be abolished through introduction of racial discrimination policies. There are several policies that fight against child abuse in order to protect children in Australia. Gradually, the reach of policy activism has been increased to a broader level that includes combating against domestic violence, indigenous disadvantage and more. In other words, these policies have a greater impact on improving condition of living by introducing many programs like childhood intervention, child protection, women protection, disability and mental health improving programs.
Domestic violence has been one of most alarming social issue that requires both governmental, nongovernmental and community support systems to be abolished. In order to be more specific, it can be said that any kind of mental or physical violence that is imposed upon the victim by their partners or by any family members can be termed as domestic violence. In other words, domestic violence covers any kind of sexual abuse, economic deprivation, physical abuse, intimidation or threats (aph.gov.au, 2018). In Australia, domestic violence has been a prominent social problem in many geographical locations and in most of the cultural and socioeconomic group of people. According to Survey of Personal Safety (2012), over 41% of women and 49% of men have gone through different types of domestic violence since they turned 15 (aph.gov.au, 2018).
It has also been noticed that 62% women have been violated physically in their homes by male members of their houses. According to organization for safety of women (ANROWS), among 6 women, 1 has faced sexual or physical violence from their partners (aph.gov.au, 2018). In this context, it can be mentioned that Australia has divided responsibilities regarding social empowerment among its state, commonwealth and territories.
Among the commonwealth social programs, Women’s Safety Agenda 2005 and Partnerships against Domestic Violence have been implemented to identify the instances of domestic violence and its causes (dss.gov.au, 2018). These programs have been funded by government of Australia. NICSA or National Initiative to Combat Sexual Assault has been introduced in order to abolish sexual assaults. In addition, another plan has been adopted by the government with the aim of reducing violence against children and women of Australia (dss.gov.au, 2018). Apart from these, other programs like programs for mass-screening, primary prevention, violence perpetrators and more have been introduced in order to fight against domestic violence from every possible angle. Moreover, many campaigns have been initiated to change the regressing attitude of common people regarding domestic violence by promoting education and so on.
Scope of domestic violence policies is broader than it seems. In order to be more specific, this can be added that whole responsibility of country’s welfare can be bestowed upon social policies. A narrower version of these policies aims at helping people who are in need. On the other hand, a broader version of these policies help in promoting social wellbeing that includes living standards of both groups and individuals by assisting them in overcoming any kind of social evil that they are facing today (Cattaneo & Goodman, 2015). For example, while some of the domestic violence policies are indulged in reducing crimes against women and children (victims of domestic violence) then there are some programs also that help them in being aware of their rights. Thus the scope of social policies covers issues like equal access to information, family relations, life satisfaction, social participation and more. Thus in this regard, it can be mentioned that scope and implications of these policies can only be enhanced with the help, support and participation of the social beings of this country. For example, a social awareness campaign can never be successful without the attitude of the listeners in the favour of change.
So, this can be said that negative attitude of the community can pose as a threat to the implementation of social policies and programs. One of the most significant barriers in the way of implementing domestic violence policy is that it has been noticed that in most cases, domestic violence are not reported to the concerned institutions. Issue of domestic violence is so complicated that it has to be dealt with care (Costa et al. 2015). This is so because many victims show fear of getting blamed for what has been done to them because of manipulations from family members. Moreover, this has also been noticed that there are no such firm implications of domestic violence policies for national citizens who live in other countries. These barriers can be reduced with the increased involvement of polices, courts and with introduction of more social reforms.
As mentioned earlier, there are certain areas that can be developed in order to overcome the barriers regarding implementation of domestic violence policies. For example, new policies and reforms need to be made for the migrants of Australia (Brady & Finnigan, 2014). On the other hand, it can also be said that many private institutions need to come forward to fight domestic violence. Moreover, social media networks can contribute highly in making the victims aware of the fact that they are not alone.
Conclusion
This study has been dealt with social policy and mainly with domestic violence policies in Australia. For that reason, social policies have been defined along with describing it in the context of Australia. In addition, the role and principles of social policies have been elaborated with special reference to Australian social policies. On the other hand, various agencies of social work practices have been mentioned in this study. After that, impacts of these policies have been illuminated here. Furthermore, significance and role of domestic violence policies have been explored. Moreover, challenges and opportunities of these policies have been identified along with discussing some alternative measures for bringing a social change.
Reference list
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