York Region CAS gets London lesson

Reducing Muslim Children in Children Aids Care!

By William Doyle-Marshall

A special programme aimed at reducing the number of Muslim community children from York Region Children’s Aid Society has been launched by the agency and the Social Services Network. It is being patterned after another project in London, Ontario.

Dr. Naila Butt, executive director, Social Services Network, serving immigrant communities with language and cultural barriers, said at a recent press conference her agency is proudly working with the London agency to undertake the Shared Journey Project: During the Impact of Family Violence Conference two years ago as her team searched for best practices and promising programmes that have delivered effectively in bridging gaps providing culturally and linguistically appropriate services that they discovered the London model. The London Muslim Resource Center and its projects with the Children’s aid Society were coming up frequently. This resulted in a coming together of representatives from agencies in York Region and London to discuss how they could bring the London model here because its has “so much to offer”.

   The network would be responsible for community engagement and mobilization, community mapping and conduct situational analysis and primary research for the project. A healthy display of acknowledging diversity in the region appears in the plan to work in Hindi, Urdu, Gujarati, Tamil, Punjabi and Malayalam immigrant communities.

 Savi Singh, Chair of the Ontario Trillium Foundation’s York-Simcoe Grant Review Team is pleased that the project speaks loud and clear about the commitment that the Muslim Resource Center and the London Children’s Aid Society have shown in this initial launch and piloting of this programme. In approving the $285,000 grant for the undertaking, the jury looked at the collaborative effort between agencies involved, how it will impact and what the benefits will be to communities. “We also believe this goes a long way to help create healthier and more vibrant communities,” Singh concluded. The Shared Journey Project will be applied in York Region, London, Ottawa and Kingston. Funds from the foundation are going to be used to assist with salaries for two programme staff, the purchase of new equipment; help with programme and administrative costs and anything else that will help the project realize its goal.

                                                    Dr. Mohammed Baobaid

Dr. Mohammed Baobaid, executive director of the Muslim Resource Center, London, said the main purpose of the project was to understand barriers to accessing mainstream services by Muslim women facing abuse within the family. Michael Bowe, supervisor with York Region Children Aid Society hopes to replicate the London Shared Journey Project with the Social Services Network so similar structure serving families could be developed in that community.  “The result was really great as they were able to raise awareness within the Muslim community on issues related to domestic violence but also help mainstream service providers understand how to help and work with Muslim families affected by domestic violence,” the executive director explained. At that time the Children Aid Society of London was one of the establishing members of the Muslim Family Safety Project and served on the project’s advisory committee. The agency used that opportunity to reach out to the community to get some help and support for Muslim families with which it was involved.

   Initially the relationship between CAS and the community created conflicts, tension and sometimes crisis. The good thing however, the executive director recalled, they were able to establish some kind of trust and mutual understanding that helped to continue the shared journey. Notwithstanding the shared project involved challenges and opportunities for both sides.

Eugene Tremblay, manager of the Muslim Resource Center noted, in the spirit of the Shared Journey Project and in the work done in London specifically there has been a reduction in the amount of the Muslim children in care significantly. Over a period of three years, no Muslim child has been placed in care.   

Over two years through Trillium funding the project would undertake a community environmental scan of the entire York Region in terms of houses of worship, various grassroots agencies that serve the South Asian communities. Some mainstream institutions and organizations are to be reviewed to see what the challenges are, what they know or don’t know about the Children’s Aid Society and what they need to make known to child protection workers. There will be an internal survey of CAS staff to see what they know. “Is there a model that we work from and if not, what model do we need. There is going to be a cross training of folks in various communities about what the Children’s Aid Society is about and then there is going to be amongst its staff as to how to engage South Asian communities in a more inclusive way, Bowe concluded.