May 2026 - The State’s expectations and uses of stopping-violence programmes (SVPs) are currently not making many abusers less dangerous and are putting victim-survivors (including children) at risk of ongoing and intensifying violence and abuse. That is the overall finding from our August/September 2025 anonymous online survey of 471 women and non-binary victim-survivors throughout Aotearoa New Zealand.

The report by The Backbone Collective and Hohou Te Rongo Kahukura discusses some victim-survivors’ experiences of the NZ Police response to intimate partner, family and sexual violence and how that response can be improved.

This Backbone report describes feedback from some victim-survivors regarding the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on abuser behaviour, and how those working in the system (Government agencies, Police, Family Court and services) responded to that behaviour.

This Backbone report describes feedback from some victim-survivors regarding the development of the government’s National Strategy and Action Plans to eliminate family and sexual violence. Victim-survivors say they want a system that prioritises and protects them and they want to see immediate action because they need help immediately.

This Backbone report describes a wide range of ideas for supports and services that some victim-survivors of family violence in NZ say would help them to get safe and recover. However, the report also shows that urgent changes are required to the way New Zealand responds to women who are victim-survivors of family violence, including removing the barriers to safety they currently experience.

The results of Backbone’s fifth report are very troubling, showing that while the Lawyer For Child service costs the NZ taxpayer $32 annually, it fails to uphold children’s rights in NZ Family Courts and is not making children safer.

Dec 2017 - 'Survey Three - Children & The Family Court' was released in October 2017, asking mothers how their children have been effected by the Family Court. This resulting report was released in Dec 2017, revealing a rich and powerful set of data that is deeply troubling.

Sept 2017 - Backbone releases its second report based on findings from its Family Court Survey released in June, entitled 'Don't Tell Me Your Problems': The Family Court Complaints & Appeals Landscape.

June 2017 - This report entitled 'Out of the Frying Pan And Into The Fire: Women's Experiences Of The New Zealand Family Court' outlines the finding of Backbone's first survey on the Family Court released in April 2017.

April 2017 - All Eyes On the Family Court is the first report by The Backbone Collective based on the findings of Backbone's first survey, launched in December 2016, of women who are survivors of violence and abuse and who have gone through or going through the Family Court.