27 May 2015

Refuge says plenty of services tackling violence in whanau

10:16 pm on 27 May 2015

The demise of Relationships Aotearoa won't necessarily hurt Māori whānau, according to a Maori Women's Refuge spokesperson.

Relationships Aotearoa says many of its clients are Māori dealing with family violence and none of the providers named by the Government to take over from it offer a Māori-for-Māori service.

But Stacey Pepene, who is a trainer-educator for Te Puna o Te Aroha refuge in Whangarei, said there were many services in the north which offer exactly that - including Refuge, and Man Alive, that work with men who have been violent.

She said those agencies and social services should be able to handle the additional workload of any cases passed on by Relationship Aotearoa.

Ms Pepene said because of recent changes to Ministry of Justice contracts, Women's Refuge and other agencies dealing with family violence were now able to run comprehensive programmes for the victims and perpetrators of family violence, and they were getting good results.

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