Indigenous women are reporting being turned away from refuges and safe houses that are already at capacity when they are needing a safe place to stay. They then rely on family and friends to provide safe harbour or have no other alternative but to return to an unsafe home.45 The impact of eligibility criteria on seeking support is also a factor, with reports that some refuges are unwilling to accept male children over the age of 10, inhibiting First Nations women from seeking help and being able to escape violence. 46 • Holistic preventative measures grounded in culture and community, with education around respectful relationships. First Nations women emphasised the importance of addressing the contexts and environments from which harmful and violent behaviours come in order to prevent them. The system must be looked at holistically—from health to housing and infrastructure, education and employment—to revitalise and embed First Nations knowledges and practices, from the start of life. This also includes increasing and investing in education around respectful relationships, grounded in First Nations culture and knowledges that have sustained healthy ways of being since time immemorial. • Transformation of child protection systems to place First Nations communities and families at the centre of decision-making, and remove the threat of child-removal across all service providers responding to violence, to ensure women can seek safety without the fear that children will be removed. The current system, including mandatory reporting legislation, preferences escalating intervention over preventative, diversionary, and supportive measures. Women describe experiencing discriminatory decision-making from authorities who punish and blame First Nations women for the harm and violence they experience instead of supporting women to safely care for their children in homes free from violence.47 As such, there is a significant underreporting by First Nations women of incidents of violence because of the fear that their children will be removed if they do seek help. • Meaningful investment in community-driven solutions to deliver safety for First Nations women and children that extend beyond police and prison systems. First Nations communities, especially women, have an extensive history of driving community-led interventions and solutions. Sustainable investments must be made into resourcing and supporting communities to lead, design, implement and evaluate the solutions they know work instead of investments into additional punitive measures such as policing and prison systems. Communities must be resourced with funding that corresponds to needs on the ground, and with flexibility to be directed across immediate responses and long-term, preventative and holistic approaches. Wiyi Yani U Thangani • First Nations Women’s Safety Policy Forum • Outcomes Report | 36