Violence against pets in the context of intimate partner violence: supporting victim-survivors

Description

Nearly 70% of Australian households include pets. For many of us, these animals are family, as much a part of our lives and equally loved as our human family members.

While there is widespread awareness about the impact of intimate partner violence (IPV) on women and children, less is known about the links between violence against family animals and IPV.

There is evidence that violence against family animals can be an indicator of frequent and severe patterns of IPV. Some perpetrators threaten or harm family pets to manipulate, punish or control their partner, leveraging the emotional connection many people have with their pets. In these situations, many victim-survivors will delay leaving, stay with, or return to perpetrators because they are scared for their pets’ safety.

Victim-survivors of IPV who have family animals face unique challenges in seeking and accessing support. Although research suggests that human and animal victim-survivors recover and heal better when they can do so together, this is often not possible – largely due to a lack of animal-inclusive support services and crisis accommodation.

Within the context of these systematic challenges, this webinar will explore practical ways that practitioners working in child and family services can strengthen support for human and animal victim-survivors.

 This webinar will help you:

• understand the relationship between violence against family animals and intimate partner violence and the effects of this violence on human and animal victim-survivors

• understand the emotional connection between people and family animals and the benefits of recovering and healing together

• develop insight into the unique challenges that victim-survivors of IPV who have family animals may experience when trying to access support and strengthen the way you support these individuals.

Presenters: Monique Dam - CEO of Lucy’s Project; Kylie Butler - Senior Research Officer in the Child and Family Evidence and Evaluation (CFEE) team at AIFS.