In the Centre of the Storm —
Durham Speaks Out
A Community Response to Custody and Access Issues Affecting Woman Abuse
Survivors and Their Children
Table of Contents:
1 • Acknowledgements
2 • Executive Summary
3 • Project History
4 • The Focus Group Research — 52 Women Speak Out
5 • Steps for Change: A Brief Overview of
Conference Highlights .....
6 • The Steering Committee
7 • Lawyer's Working Group
8 • Luke's Place Working Group
9 • Task Force on Court, Police and Legal Issues
10 • Judges' Orders Subcommittee
11 • Information Package Subcommittee
12 • Woman Abuse Review Committee
13 • Other Initiatives
14 • Reflections on Working with the Focus Group Participants
15 • Next Steps
16 • Survival Stories — Testimonies from Participants
1. Acknowledgements:
Durham Region is developing
a well-deserved reputation for its unique and innovative programming in
addressing the needs of woman abuse survivors, their partners and their
children. I am frequently asked "What is it about Durham Region that
they produce such excellent work?" My answer often describes a community
of fine, dedicated individuals who believe they have a responsibility to
make a difference in the world and know they can't do it alone. Thus, a
strong sense of collective spirit lives here. So before describing this
present community initiative, it is important to name earlier projects
to assist the reader in linking together the collective accomplishments
of Durham Region.
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2.
Executive Summary:
In September 1997, in Durham Region, a Community Coalition formed and
began a community dialogue regarding custody and access issues in
situations where woman abuse was involved. Out of these discussions, it
became apparent that any recommendations for change must be grounded in
the voice of the experts - those who survived woman abuse and proceeded
through the custody and access process.
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3. Project History:
The idea for this work began in September 1997 when the Durham Family
Court Clinic initiated a meeting to begin a community discussion about
custody and access issues. A primary concern raised by participants
during the initial meetings was the treatment and safety of women and
children in the custody and access proceedings when woman abuse was
involved. A decision was made to apply for funding for a research and
community response project to explore this issue with women who had
survived abusive relationships and experienced custody and access
proceedings.
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4.
The Focus Group Research - 52 Women Speak Out:
Since the early 1970's, grass roots groups of women, many survivors of
woman abuse themselves, and their allies, began to speak out and
identify the issue of violence against women, particularly male violence
against women in heterosexual relationships. One of the first shelters
to focus specifically on the needs of battered women was founded by the
author Erin Pizzey who wrote the classic book "Scream Quietly or the
Neighbours Will Hear". This book was based on the experiences of
those early women who both worked at and came to that first shelter,
Chiswick Women's Aid, in London, England. The year was 1971.
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5. Steps for Change: A Brief Overview of
Conference Highlights, Activities and Recommendations:
On Tuesday, March 23rd and Thursday, March 25, 1999, a two-day working
conference was held with key representatives from Durham Region,
including service providers, politicians and focus group participants.
The driving force behind the Steps for Change Conference was to formally
release the findings from the focus group research as well as to
increase community awareness related to the primary issues of concern to
the focus group participants. The conference served as a starting point
for a dialogue that helped organize and unify the Durham community
regarding solution-focused approaches to addressing the identified
concerns.
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6.
The Steering Committee:
The Steering Committee has been meeting regularly since the fall of
1997. It has played a key role in overseeing the project, coordinating
and planning with the Project Consultant, addressing issues as they
arise within the project, performing a planning role within the
community, ensuring involvement and receiving input from Focus Group
participants, visioning the next stages of the project, and developing
funding proposals.
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7.
Lawyer's Working Group:
The focus of the Lawyers' Working Group1 was to prepare best practice
guidelines for family law lawyers in woman abuse cases. We participated
in a visioning exercise to identify gaps in the legal system and in
services available to woman abuse survivors and their lawyers. We
determined the need for reform of family law legislation and procedural
court rules to squarely address domestic violence issues. We reviewed
the recommendations in the May/Iles report.2 We met with focus group
participants and victim/witness service providers. We had the benefit of
feedback and input of a Justice of the Superior Court Justice, Family
Court branch. We also participated as a part of a focus group to provide
feedback to a provincial government committee's review of restraining
orders. The following is a summary of the work that forms the report of
this working group...
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8.
Luke's Place Working Group:
Durham Region, through the efforts of many, continues to strive toward
developing initiatives to strengthen the safety, security and well being
of woman abuse survivors and their children. The conceptualization and
development of a resource centre which offers a combined understanding
of woman abuse dynamics and custody and access issues is, we understand,
the first of its kind in Canada.
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9.
Task Force on Court, Police and Legal Issues:
The phrase "seamless response" has increased in usage to the point that
it may already be used without proper consideration of what we mean in
any particular context. For the purposes of our work, we understood a
"seamless response" to mean that, in order to develop successful
practical responses to the issues of violence against women and
children, we needed to bring together survivors of domestic violence,
professionals working in community support and advocacy, and
professionals working in the various sectors of our legal system. In
bringing women and men to the table from each of these areas we found
that many of us fall into not just one category, but sometimes two or
all three categories - that is to say…any one individual may be a
survivor, advocate, and professional working passionately for change.
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10.
Judges' Orders Subcommittee:
The subcommittee was perhaps one of the first community
multidisciplinary groups to deal with specific legal issues and police
enforcement. Participants included a Superior Court Family Justice; a
senior member of the Durham Regional Police, who is in fact a lawyer and
advises the police on enforcement issues; a Family Court Clinic Assessor
who is a facilitator of a male batterers' group; a family lawyer; a
Crown attorney; a Victim Witness Co-ordinator; Family Court Onsite
Mediation Project Manager; and members of the women survivors' focus
group. While these were the primary participants, other community
members and services participated from time to time.
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11. Information Package
Subcommittee:
Throughout the two day working conference, it became evident that,
although numerous pieces of information existed on community and court
services available to women, there was no one piece of literature that
dealt with the needs of women on a holistic basis. Survivors defined
their need for a clear user-friendly manual about the options they could
access within the judicial systems. They required a manual that would
identify services available to support them throughout the process and
the impact of their decision, i.e. criminal charges versus a restraining
order.
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12.
Woman Abuse Review Committee:
Most of the women in the original focus groups felt that there were
few, if any, avenues in place to hold all parties accountable for their
commitments. Women expressed frustration that ex-partners were allowed
to continue controlling behaviour and to use legal and custody battles
as a method of ongoing harassment.
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13.
Other Initiatives:
On August 16, 1997, Durham Region faced one of the most horrific
tragedies in the life of their community. A little 3 year-old boy named
Luke was brutally murdered by his father who then took his own life.
This tragedy occurred on the first unsupervised access visit Luke was to
have with his father, one week after his mother fled with him to The
Denise House to escape an escalatingly abusive marriage. There had been
a history of predominately emotional abuse throughout the course of the
marriage, one previous separation and significant efforts on the
mother's part to seek counselling assistance to cope with what she
believed to be an untreated major depression in her husband. Kate did
everything right.* When she could no longer tolerate the tension in her
marriage and had exhausted all possibilities of mending the marriage,
Kate sought the assistance of the family law system to help her work out
the details of a fair custody and access arrangement. She believed the
proper route was to request sole custody and supervised access for her
husband until he could be properly assessed for mental health stability.
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14.
Reflections on Working with the Focus Group
Participants:
One of the overall objectives of the Custody and Access Project is to
provide a forum offering woman abuse survivors the opportunity to come
together to generate social support and development as a united group
rather than acting as isolated individuals.
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15. Next Steps:
Work continues on in the Custody and Access Project beyond the
publication of this report. Much of the material written about is
work in progress. Committee members will continue to seek input from
others in our community, in the province, and in the country, to further
develop the ideas and materials in this document. There are other areas
identified for discussion and work. Some ideas need to be tested "in
action". The material presented becomes a "living document" when it is
used to help ensure the safety and quality of life of woman abuse
survivors and their children.
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16.
Survival Stories - Testimonies from
Participants:
The following narratives were written by woman abuse survivors involved
in the project. They write about their personal situations and their
experiences as they addressed custody and access issues. In all cases
but one, the names have been changed to protect their identities.
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Tel: (905) 728-4968
email: info@vpcc.ca