Domestic Violence and Abuse (DVA) in Military Families: Improving Signposting to Specialist Support

Abstract: The aim of this project was to establish a military families specialismi on the Routes to Supportii (RtS) online system for domestic violence and abuse (DVA) services so that military families experiencing DVA can be better signposted to appropriate services, whether military, quasi-military, or civilian services, with specialist knowledge (note RtS was formerly called UK Refuges Online until 2010). To achieve this aim, this project sought the views of key stakeholders with an interest in military families suffering DVA, in order to help first inform a definition of what a service offering a ‘military family specialism’ would look like, and so in turn, be able to identify such services to add to the RtS system. Stakeholders included: the Ministry of Defence (MOD); Military Welfare Agencies; DVA specialist civilian services; DVA Perpetrator Programmes; military charities; DVA policy makers; and victim/survivors of abuse from military families.