Family violence — intimate partner violence, child abuse, and elder abuse — causes profound harm to individuals, families, and communities in New Zealand. New Zealand has among the worst rates of family violence in the OECD. Government investment in family violence response has increased significantly in recent years, but community organisations — women's refuges, prevention programmes, perpetrator intervention services, and children's support — remain critical and grant-dependent.
Prevalence
New Zealand's family violence statistics are stark: police attend a family violence incident approximately every four minutes; intimate partner violence is the leading cause of homicide; children are exposed to family violence in hundreds of thousands of households. The harm is severe and widespread.
The survivor population
Family violence survivors are predominantly women and children, though men also experience family violence. Specific populations face compounding risk: Māori women experience intimate partner violence at rates significantly higher than non-Māori; Pacific women face cultural and language barriers to accessing support; migrant women may face additional barriers including immigration status concerns, language difficulties, and lack of social networks.
The causes
Family violence is embedded in gender inequality, colonisation, and intergenerational trauma. Addressing it requires both immediate safety responses and long-term prevention addressing the root causes.
Ministry of Social Development
MSD contracts the majority of family violence services in New Zealand — crisis accommodation (women's refuges), advocacy, court support, and some prevention programmes. Government funding is substantial but often insufficient to meet demand.
Ministry of Justice
The Backbone Collective, perpetrator intervention programmes, and court-based services receive some Ministry of Justice funding.
ACC
ACC funds some family violence-related services, particularly for survivors with significant injuries.
Philanthropic funders
Community trusts, gaming trusts, and philanthropic foundations supplement government funding for:
- Women's refuge operations beyond contracted service levels
- Prevention programmes not funded by government
- Children's support programmes
- Capacity building and workforce development
- Research and evaluation
Women's refuges
Women's refuges provide crisis accommodation and comprehensive support for women and children leaving violent relationships. Government contracts fund core refuge services, but additional philanthropic grants support:
- Refuge facility maintenance and upgrade
- Capacity beyond contracted levels
- Specialist services (for women with mental health needs, addiction, disability)
- Transition housing support
Prevention programmes
Prevention — changing the attitudes and norms that enable family violence — is the most cost-effective long-term strategy. Prevention programmes in schools, workplaces, faith communities, and media create attitudinal change. Grants for prevention programmes are important given their limited government funding.
Perpetrator intervention
Men who use violence must change their behaviour to stop the cycle. Perpetrator intervention programmes — structured group and individual programmes for men who have used violence — reduce reoffending. Grants for perpetrator intervention and accountability support this essential element of the system.
Children's support
Children who witness or experience family violence need specific support — counselling, therapeutic support, safety planning. Children's support within family violence services is often under-resourced relative to adult services. Grants for children's specialist support are high-impact.
Kaupapa Māori family violence services
Māori-led family violence services — grounded in Māori values and cultural approaches — are more effective for Māori survivors than mainstream services. Grants for kaupapa Māori family violence organisations support culturally appropriate responses.
Technology and safety
Technology increasingly supports family violence safety — safety planning apps, GPS monitoring, online support services. Grants for technology-enabled safety tools and digital outreach extend reach to survivors who can't access physical services.
Workforce development
Family violence work is emotionally demanding and requires specialist skills. Workforce development — training, supervision, secondary trauma support — sustains the workforce that serves survivors. Grants for workforce development build sector capacity.
Trauma-informed practice
Family violence services operate with deeply traumatised populations. Funders should understand and support trauma-informed practice approaches — which recognise the pervasive impact of trauma and prioritise safety, trustworthiness, and choice in service design.
Survivor voice and co-design
Family violence services are most effective when designed with input from survivors. Funders who support survivor voice in programme design and evaluation — through survivor advisory groups, lived experience leadership, and co-design processes — invest in more responsive and effective services.
The ecological model
Effective family violence prevention and response operates across multiple levels: individual, relationship, community, and societal. Funders who support a range of interventions across these levels — not just crisis services — contribute to systemic change.
Long-term investment
Family violence is deeply entrenched. Prevention programmes take years to show population-level impact. Perpetrator intervention programmes require sustained engagement. Funders who make multi-year commitments enable the sustained work that family violence requires.
Tahua's grants management platform supports family violence funders and women's refuge organisations in New Zealand — with grant tracking, outcome measurement, workforce development tracking, and the secure data management practices that protect sensitive information.