The Western Australian Common Risk Assessment and Risk Management Framework (CRARMF) is now included alongside service specifications for community sector service contracts managed by the Department of Communities, has been progressively included into the policy and practices of legal and statutory agencies/authorities and is increasingly being used by a range of mainstream service providers.
The purpose of the Framework is to:
- support better identification of, and response to, victims of family and domestic violence regardless of what area of the service sector they come into contact with;
- ensure service responses are client and safety focused; and
- support inter-agency collaboration so responses are timely, holistic, streamlined and coordinated.
The Framework sets common practice standards for family and domestic violence screening, risk assessment, risk management, information sharing and referral for all services – mainstream and specialist, government and community sector.
The second edition of the CRARMF extends the original Framework and focuses on:
- updating the policy context for the Framework in Western Australia;
- incorporating recommendations from the 2013 evaluation, including developing information and resources to strengthen information sharing, referral pathways and collaborative case management;
- increasing the awareness and understanding about the role of the Framework in supporting an ‘integrated response’;
- strengthening practice guidance about engaging and responding to perpetrators for the purpose of assessing and managing risk; and
- modifying the risk assessment tool to better align with the risk assessment process, with provision made for the recording of the victim’s assessment of the level of risk and professional judgement.
