Helping Children Thrive
Domestic violence is a growing arround the world. The main direct victims are woman an children. Most of the organizations, professionals, support groups, etc. working on this issue focused on gender and how to empower women to stop the abuse situations, but they don't pay much attention on a key part as woman and parents, the relationship and protection of their children.
After many researching and quality investigations, working backwards from an understanding of how children are shaped by domestic violence, we crafted ten concrete and straightforward parenting tips. We develope resources for service providers assisting women who have survived woman abuse. These services may be offered in the violence against women sector, or through children's mental health centres, in child protection settings, or any other place where women seek assistance for their children.
Parenting Tips for Mothers who Survived Woman Abuse is a research-informed parenting support system for children exposed to domestic violence embedded in a comprehensive, multi-faceted and accessible training initiative for helpers. Helping women as mothers is among the best ways to help children.
Material addresses the needs of abused women as mothers, how abusive men parent, how abusive men affect family dynamics, effects of power and control tactics on mothers, the potential impact of woman abuse on children of different ages, and strategies used by young people to cope with violence in their homes. Guidance on parenting children exposed to violence is also offered. Forty-two pages are designed as handouts for women, to be distribued as an adjunct to individual or group interventions on woman abuse or on parenting.
About You
Section 1: About You
First Name
Alison
Last Name
Cunningham
Organization
Centre for Children & Families in the Justice System
Country
Are you an individual between the ages of 18 and 35 who would like to apply for a nine month Young Champions Program mentored by an Ashoka Fellow?
No
Section 2: About Your Organization
Organization Name
Centre for Children & Families in the Justice System
Organization Website
Organization Phone
1-519-679-7250
Organization Address
200 - 254 Pall Mall St. LONDON ON N6A 5P6 CANADA
Organization Country
Canada
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Your idea
Name Your Project
Helping Children Thrive
Country your work focuses on
Canada
Describe Your Idea
Domestic violence is a growing arround the world. The main direct victims are woman an children. Most of the organizations, professionals, support groups, etc. working on this issue focused on gender and how to empower women to stop the abuse situations, but they don't pay much attention on a key part as woman and parents, the relationship and protection of their children.
After many researching and quality investigations, working backwards from an understanding of how children are shaped by domestic violence, we crafted ten concrete and straightforward parenting tips. We develope resources for service providers assisting women who have survived woman abuse. These services may be offered in the violence against women sector, or through children's mental health centres, in child protection settings, or any other place where women seek assistance for their children.
Parenting Tips for Mothers who Survived Woman Abuse is a research-informed parenting support system for children exposed to domestic violence embedded in a comprehensive, multi-faceted and accessible training initiative for helpers. Helping women as mothers is among the best ways to help children.
Material addresses the needs of abused women as mothers, how abusive men parent, how abusive men affect family dynamics, effects of power and control tactics on mothers, the potential impact of woman abuse on children of different ages, and strategies used by young people to cope with violence in their homes. Guidance on parenting children exposed to violence is also offered. Forty-two pages are designed as handouts for women, to be distribued as an adjunct to individual or group interventions on woman abuse or on parenting.
Website URL
Innovation
What makes your idea unique?
The most important innovation of this initiative, is the focuse on the treatment of the domestic violence against woman in their parent role. But this system have many elements that makes it unique:
We focused on quality research, not all the research we analyzed over 500 sources of information. This led to the development of a framework to guide assessment, program development and research, as summarized in “What About Me! Seeking to Understand the Child’s View of Violence in the Family” (2004).
We Support the mother to help the child: a mother’s love, affection, availability, and investment in her child’s well being and healthy development are powerful factors to harness in our efforts to help children.
Ths professional involved in this system listen to children we developes four models for how children of four developmental stages experience and understand the existence of domestic violence in their homes.
We also take care and learn about the needs of the front line and incorporate this in resource development.
All resources described here are downloadable at no cost. This makas this initiative very accesible
Do you have a patent for this idea?
Impact
This Entry is about (Issues)
What impact have you had?
The number of visitors to our web site increases years after year. In 2006/07, we had 265,000 visitors, up from 240,000 the previous year. They came from 206 countries, only 44% of whom are Canadian. In the previous year, there were 80,000 visitors from the U.S. including 8,000 from California and 6,000 from New York state. Next on the list is the United Kingdom, Australia, France, South Africa, India, New Zealand, the Philippines, Malaysia, Portugal, Ireland, Belgium, Japan, Germany and Singapore.
Web Access to E-resources
The resources forming the package of parenting material are consistently the most popular of the over 70 documents available on our web site. For example, the "What About Me!" research report from 2004 was read or downloaded 100,759 times in the previous year. That is a substantial increase over the figure of 85,000 from the previous year.
The material can be used outside North America. We have been notified aout translations in Portuguese, Japanese, Spanish, and Swedish to name a few. Agencies in England, Wales and Australia adapt the language to match local idioms and legal terminology and add references to nearby resources. The French versions and are used in Europe and northern Africa, principally Morocco.
Problem
When infants, kids or teenagers live with domestic violence, the impact or effect can be both visible and on the inside where it's harder to see.
Most parenting courses and books are not appropriate for families where an abusive man was in the father role. An abusive man affects family dynamics in many harmful ways and his abuse and parenting style can compromise a womans efforts to be the best mother she could be.
Actions
Delivery of support and information to mothers is accomplished by helpers around the world who find the material through word of mouth, at conferences, at training workshops, or through the InternThe Centre supports the use of the material by making it available on the Internet (in a small but increasing number of languages); and by providing on-site training tailored to local needs mostly in the U.S. and Canada but also Europe and Asia. These documents describe the parenting information:
Helping Children Thrive: Information for Mothers who Have Left Abusive Relationships (2004).
A two-page information pamphlet. Available in English, French, Portuguese, Japanese (and soon in Arabic and Spanish).
Helping Children Thrive / Supporting Woman Abuse Survivors as Mothers: A Resource to Support Parenting (2004).
A 90-page resource package including background material for service delverers and 27 handouts for women, to use in individual or group interventions on woman abuse or on parenting. Presents the 10 parenting tips for mothers, an explanation of why each is important when children have lived with violence, and guidance on applying the tips at home. Available in English and French.
Results
Feedback was solicited from users of "Helping Children Thrive" via an Internet form in 2004. Respondents worked at women’s shelters or in the children's mental health field. They found the literacy level appropriate for the women they serve. Almost all (97%) agreed the material helps their work and 94% said it is helpful to the women they serve. Many respondents (53%) indicated that their knowledge of child exposure to domestic violence was fairly extensive before they read “Helping Children Thrive.” Even so, 76% said their knowledge level increased after using it. All the people whose knowledge level had not increased considered themselves highly knowledgeable already.
What will it take for your project to be successful over the next three years? Please address each year separately, if possible.
The plan is to continue developing new materials, especially that appropriate for self-study by women. Raising awareness about the availability of the material is an on-going activity. For example, we are giving a full-day workshop to premier some of the new material at the Third International Conference on Children Exposed to Domestic Violence in May, 2007. We want to explore and develop expertise in alternate modalities of knowledge transfer, such as on-line classes, CD-ROM based training modules, and perhaps DVD-based information for mothers. These technologies would expand the capacity to meet demand for training and permit training in a wider number of languages. We welcome opportunities to work with agencies in other countries to adapt the material to specific cultures. We would very much like to develop similar material suitable for men as fathers.
Australian Pilot in Women's Refuges
Some of the handouts for mothers from the "Helping Child Thrive" resource will be tested in women’s refuges in New South Wales, Australia, on a pilot basis to replace the material previously distributed to new residents. Feedback will be garnered from refuge staff and women.
What would prevent your project from being a success?
Time and resources. We have many ideas about future development and are limited only by time and resource constraints.
How many people will your project serve annually?
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What is the average monthly household income in your target community, in US Dollars?
Please select
Does your project seek to have an impact on public policy?
Sustainability
What stage is your project in?
Operating for more than 5 years
Is your organization a
For‐profit
Is your initiative connected to an established organization?
If yes, provide organization name.
Centre for Children & Families in the Justice System
How long has this organization been operating?
More than 5 years
Does your organization have a Board of Directors or an Advisory Board?
Yes
Does your organization have a non-monetary partnerships with NGOs?
Yes
Does your organization have a non-monetary partnerships with businesses?
Does your organization have a non-monetary partnerships with government?
Yes
Please tell us more about how these partnerships are critical to the success of your innovation.
The Fist partnerships that allow us make the start up of this initiatives were: Packard Foundation, the Government of Ontario, the National Crime Prevention Centre (Ottawa.
Most recently, the National Clearinghouse of Family Violence the National Clearinghouse of Family Violence (Ottawa) which supports the production of the latest resource, "Little Eyes, Little Ears: How Violence Against a Mother Shapes her Children as They Grow" (2007). That institution has a long-standing distribution infrastructure to mail free copies to those who request them. The Centre will soon use secure Internet-based e-shopping for prospective purchasers of our over 70 resources
But in effect, any woman-serving organization, anywhere in the world, is a potential partner.
Our philosophy is to attract partners by producing high-quality products that meet the needs of service deliverers and their clients.
Our partners value greatly the work we produce to support their work. They themselves are challenged by time and resource constraints, and we wish we could do more pro bono work for them
What are the three most important actions needed to grow your initiative or organization?
Book royalties will greatly augment our work when we are able to complete and publish our new workbook for women and accompanying book: "Making Tomorrow Better: Helpful and Hopeful Ways to Support Children as they Heal from Domestic Violence and Abuse." Careful attention to the language and terminology makes it suitable for an American audience but also appropriate in Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom and other places where English is spoken understood. Therefore, we anticipate the the royal revenues will be significant
The plan is to continue developing new materials, especially that appropriate for self-study by women. Raising awareness about the availability of the material is an on-going activity. For example, we are giving a full-day workshop to premier some of the new material at the Third International Conference on Children Exposed to Domestic Violence in May, 2007. We want to explore and develop expertise in alternate modalities of knowledge transfer, such as on-line classes, CD-ROM based training modules, and perhaps DVD-based information for mothers. These technologies would expand the capacity to meet demand for training and permit training in a wider number of languages. We welcome opportunities to work with agencies in other countries to adapt the material to specific cultures. We would very much like to develop similar material suitable for men as fathers.
The Story
What was the defining moment that you led to this innovation?
Over 30 years, the Centre for Children and Families in the Justice System has earned a reputation for excellence in service, innovation in program development, and rigorousness in the applied research which informs both. In the 1980s, staff at the Centre (then known as the London Family Court Clinic) were among the first front-line professionals to observe how exposure to domestic violence manifest in the worrisome behavior, emotions and thoughts of children. Until that point, it was generally assumed that children were affected only if directly maltreated themselves. The first opportunity to reflect our experience in resources for the front-line came with a generous grant from the Packard Foundation. Four resources were created for police, educators, early childhood educators and staff of juvenile custody and detention facilities in the United States.
Tell us about the social innovator behind this idea.
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 | 122 weeks agoAlison Cunningham submitted this idea. |
