For the last three years Catholic Family 鱿鱼视频app has placed one of its employees at Catholic Children鱿鱼视频app Aid Society of Toronto headquarters so she can respond to cases of domestic abuse.
鈥淚f the kid is being abused, more than likely the mother鱿鱼视频app abused,鈥 said Catholic Family 鱿鱼视频app executive director Lucia Furgieule.
Furgieule鱿鱼视频app intuition spurred a one-year pilot program three years ago. At the end of that first year an outside auditor wrote a report verifying that in fact, by having Catholic Family 鱿鱼视频app follow up on reports to Catholic Children鱿鱼视频app Aid, they were catching a significant number of cases of woman abuse.
But, instead of making the program permanent, the Ontario Ministry of Children and Youth 鱿鱼视频app extended the trial for another year, resulting in another report. Now approaching the end of its third year, the choice before the province is to either make it permanent or shut it down.
As of the beginning of May, Furgieule had yet to hear about the future of the program.
鈥淲e look forward to seeing the outcome of the pilot program as the results will help inform some of our work under the Sexual Violence and Harassment Action Plan,鈥 a Children and Youth 鱿鱼视频app spokesperson told The Catholic Register in a May 4 e-mail. 鈥淲e will continue to work with the Ministry of Community and Social 鱿鱼视频app and the agencies involved to explore future funding options.鈥
It鱿鱼视频app not that complicated, said Catholic Family 鱿鱼视频app program manager Shereen McFarlane. Violent and abusive men are a danger to everyone in the house.
There are cases where husbands or boyfriends target the children but not the woman and vice-versa, McFarlane said. But if children are seeing their mother humiliated, degraded or even beaten that constitutes child abuse. If mothers have to watch their children suffer that constitutes woman abuse.
鈥淧arents are the protectors of children,鈥 McFarlane said. 鈥淚f we鈥檙e not protecting the mother, who is the nurturer of those children, then we鈥檙e not protecting children.鈥
In an average month the Catholic Family 鱿鱼视频app worker at Children鱿鱼视频app Aid follows up on 30 cases. Rather than the blunt instrument of the law when the police are called, the CFS has a variety of tools for helping a couple in crisis.
鈥淭he biggest thing is developing that safety plan (for the woman),鈥 said McFarlane.
The Being a Dad program and couple鱿鱼视频app counselling are all options when the abuse has not yet turned to physical violence.
Unlike the laws around child abuse, there is no mandatory reporting system for woman abuse.
鈥淭hat鱿鱼视频app why it was imperative to bring the two sectors together,鈥 said McFarlane. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 have those (legal) capabilities to be the strong arm for immediate intervention.鈥
Not every contact between Catholic Family 鱿鱼视频app and an abused woman results in the woman taking action. Studies show that on average a woman endures six or seven outbursts of abuse before leaving. But by making contact and providing information about everything from shelter options to counselling, the CFS-CCAS collaboration project is providing women with the tools they need to extricate themselves from impossible situations, said McFarlane.
鈥淓very scenario is a reminder that somebody has to reach out to these women,鈥 McFarlane said. 鈥淎s people of faith we always should be reaching out to people.鈥
The project with Catholic Children鱿鱼视频app Aid is just one of a growing number of ways Catholic Family 鱿鱼视频app is responding to woman abuse, said Furgieule.
鈥淵ou know who has been wonderful on this has been our Cardinal (Thomas Collins),鈥 she said. 鈥淗e鱿鱼视频app been such an ally. He鱿鱼视频app really shown great leadership on this.鈥