CCIS Family Violence Specialist and Apartment 1310 Annual Evaluation Report February 2020
Abstract
Calgary Catholic Immigration Society (CCIS) is a non-profit organization with expertise in providing settlement and integration services to immigrants and refugees. The Family and Children’s Services (FCS) Division of CCIS works to facilitate the integration of newcomer families and children into the community, enhancing the provision of community services for newcomers, and promoting the healthy development of children using a holistic strengths-based approach. The Cultural Brokerage Program facilitated through the FCS Division provides direct supports, services and referrals to culturally diverse families involved with Alberta Children’s Services with the aim of ensuring children are safe and families are able to flourish in Canada. Since its inception, evaluation of the Cultural Brokerage Program has revealed that the most prevalent concern leading to Children’s Services involvement within client families is family violence. At the same time, research and experience have shown that culturally diverse families experience significant barriers to accessing the mainstream family violence support services that are available in Calgary. In response to the specific challenges faced by culturally diverse families with family violence concerns and Children’s Services involvement, CCIS created Family Violence (FV) Specialist roles within the Cultural Brokerage Program team and the innovative Apartment 1310 Program for perpetrators of family violence. The FV Specialists are a resource for the Cultural Brokerage Program team to access when families are facing issues related to family violence. In response to the gendered nature of family violence, one FV Specialist is female and the other is male. Together, they work with both victims and perpetrators of family violence to increase understanding around the impacts of family violence, responses to family violence, expectations around family violence in Canada, and available community resources and options for families.
Notes
Key populations
Clients of the program
Key recommendations
1. Continue to provide specialized supports for culturally diverse families with Children’s Services involvement and family violence concerns.
2. Continue to offer support to victims and perpetrators of family violence with FV Specialists dedicated to both.
3. Seek opportunities to embed the Apartment 1310 Program and both FV Specialist roles within the Cultural Brokerage Program.
4. Seek opportunities to ensure the FV Specialist and Apartment 1310 Program have enough time with clients to support real change.
5. Continue to seek opportunities to support mainstream services in evolving towards greater cultural responsiveness.
6. Continue to evaluate the FV Specialists and Apartment 1310 Program to ensure ongoing effectiveness.
Key findings
In 2019, the FV Specialists supported 182 culturally diverse families including 469 individual family members. 60% of family members supported were adults, and 40% were children. Of the adult family members supported, 54% were mothers, 41% were fathers, 2% were step-parents, 2% were other adult relatives and 1% were grandparents.
Immigration status can be a key contributing factor in family violence cases among newcomer families as it can create additional stress within the family as well as unequal power dynamics.
100% of FV Specialist clients felt they learned something new in working with the FV Specialist.
100% of interviewed participants reported that they learned something new through the Apartment 1310 Program.
Participants reported learning about:
• The impacts of family violence on children and families
• Strategies for self-care
• Strategies for calming down during times of conflict
• Problem-solving techniques
• The differences between Canadian culture and their home cultures and what is expected in Canada
• Positive parenting strategies
• How to use communication to solve conflicts
• Opportunities moving forward
Integration timeline
At what point during the integration process the study was conducted?
NA
Gaps identified
NA
Location
Calgary, Alberta
Community organizations
CCIS
Open-access – Yes
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