Victoria is better placed than many other jurisdictions in Australia and indeed globally when it comes to family violence reform. The Royal Commission into Family Violence has led to over $3 billion being invested into transforming the family violence system, with 204 of the 227 recommendations being acquitted.

However, gaps remain for young people who are experiencing family violence either in the home or from an intimate partner. This is in part due to:

• Policy settings that classify ‘children and young people’ as one group, meaning family violence services are not adapted with the developmental needs of young people specifically.
• Children and young people are often seen as extensions of their parents or carers for the purposes of support.
• Children and young people who use violence at home, often as a result of their own experiences of trauma, do not have their identity as victim survivors recognised.
• Children and young people remain the ‘silent’ victims of family violence, as the Royal Commission described. This includes their voices not being heard when they interact with the service and legal system in multiple different ways.

The Amplify Project, undertaken by Melbourne City Mission, seeks to understand this gap in policy and services and map a way forward. It has done this through conducting a literature and policy review; one-on-ones and workshops with young people with lived experience; and workshops with specialist family violence, housing, youth, legal and sexual assault service practitioners. This report outlines the findings from this research which has been shaped and guided by the insights of lived expertise.