Wellsprings for Women is raising the alarm over growing challenges faced by migrant and refugee women experiencing family violence across the South East.
Over the past financial year, Wellsprings’ Family Violence Case Management Program has reported a significant rise in complex cases, exposing what it says are serious systemic gaps in protecting migrant and refugee women.
Some of the key issues identified are: lack of cultural understanding, women misidentified as the aggressor, language barriers and lack of interpreters, temporary visa vulnerabilities, overlooked forms of abuse such as dowry related violence and forced marriages, and health and financial barriers.
Wellsprings chief executive Dalal Smiley called for investment in existing culturally responsive and trauma-informed services.
She also called for mandatory access to interpreters, stronger coordination between housing, legal and support services, targeted support for women on temporary visas and systemic reform ensuring migrant and refugee women are heard, believed and protected.
“Family violence is not just about individual acts of harm, it is shaped by systemic failures, cultural misunderstandings and structural inequities. Addressing these barriers is a matter of justice and safety.
“Too often, the very systems meant to protect women are the ones failing them.”
As a result these women are left to navigate “discriminatory and fragmented systems”, Smiley said.
The demand for family violence support continues to surge, yet specialist services for migrant and refugee women remain severely under-resourced, according to Wellsprings.
Long waitlists and turn-aways are becoming the norm.
“Our team is managing large caseloads with very limited housing options, all while carrying then emotional weight of the crisis they face every day,” Oula Ibrahim, family violence manager at Wellsprings for Women says.
Women were frequently told to communicate only in English, or faced courts and service system that were inaccessible, discriminatory, or fragmented.
Some were forced to rely on their children or family members for interpretation, leading to breaches of confidentiality and compounding trauma.
Perpetrators exploited legal loopholes to sell assets, file cross applications for intervention orders, or monopolise legal services to block women from representation.
Reported family violence incidents in Greater Dandenong have soared 20 per cent since 2022-23, according to Crime Statistics Agency data. More than 3000 were reported in the past financial year.
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More to come.
