SECTION 9: DISCUSSION

This section presents the key findings and participant recommendations from this research in light of the existing literature. With each of these recommendations, we provide a series of responses based on tangible actions that service providers in the social, community, and justice sectors can take.

 

RECOMMENDATION #1

Focus on the strengths of children who have experienced FV and provide them with support to bolster their strengths

The findings of this study have highlighted the profound impact FV has on participants’ lives, which partially aligns with findings in other FV research grounded in children’s perspectives (Arai et al., 2021). Much of the literature focuses on the adverse outcomes of exposure to FV on children’s mental health, behaviour, education, and physical health (Arai et al., 2021). Similar to Overlien (2017), we suggest that focusing only on the negative impacts in cases of FV is limiting.

We believe that children who have experienced FV should not be seen as damaged (Tuck, 2009) but as individuals who have demonstrated multiple strengths beyond the trauma and “damage” they have experienced. Many of the participants of this study, including Sandiran, Adriana, Maria, Sonia, Samantha, Jasmine, and Maya successfully overcame difficulties of their lives. Most participants in our study demonstrated marked capabilities despite FV and systemic barriers. All of our study participants completed secondary education and accessed post-secondary studies. Adriana escaped the coercive controlling violence in her home, sought help from the UN, and relocated to Canada, despite a lack of support from police and immigration services in China. Maya juggled the multiple roles of caring for her siblings, doing extra chores at home, attending school, and attending to her personal development as a young person. Samantha supported and advocated for her mother, provided financial assistance to her siblings in Pakistan, attended school (and ultimately post-secondary school), and completed the complex and laborious process of sponsoring her siblings to immigrate to Canada. In keeping with Overlien’s (2017) argument regarding the agency of children who experience FV, participants had a high level of knowledge and skill in assessing and responding strategically to violence and coercive control and taking on more responsibilities in the home compared to their peers. While this discussion on strengths does not negate the importance of services and supports such as those recommended by the participants, it bolsters the argument that the participants could have avoided the setbacks they experienced with the right type of support.

 

IDEAS FOR IMPLEMENTING RECOMMENDATION #1

• Create opportunities within curricula for children in elementary school to learn about violence, the impact of violence, and safe options for discussing the experience of violence. Normalizing the occurrence of violence but not normalizing the violence is important for reducing the stigma associated with FV
• Conduct strengths-based assessments of children’s skills and interests and design programs and activities in consultation with children

 

RECOMMENDATION #2

Recognize siblings as unique individuals with different ways of interpreting and responding to FV

In some cases, findings demonstrate that the age and gender of children play an important role in how they experience FV, though in other cases, the findings have challenged these intersections. The findings of this study warrant recognizing siblings as individuals with unique ways of responding to a FV event based on their interpretation of that event and their individual strengths and vulnerabilities. Interventions such as counselling support need to go beyond a universal approach for siblings to an individualized approach that respects the right of each sibling to receive individualized services based on the impact of FV on them.

 

IDEAS FOR IMPLEMENTING RECOMMENDATION #2

• Instead of developing common supports for all the children in a family, conduct an individual assessment of their experiences of the FV and its varied impact, including changes in family relationships. Based on this assessment, plan individualized support for each child in consultation with the child.

 

RECOMMENDATION #3

Provide community-wide education to create more awareness about FV

The participants’ stories highlight the need for community-wide education about and awareness of FV and the nature and location of supports available for persons experiencing FV. Community education on the impact of FV on children and subsequent mental health issues could lead to the development of innovative community-based supports and intervention strategies (Ahmad et al., 2009; Mehta et al., 2021; Thandi, 2012). Such efforts at education and awareness building are needed in various languages and made available in multiple media such as radio, TV, and social media (Ryan, et al., 2012).

IDEAS FOR IMPLEMENTING RECOMMENDATION #3

• Establish rapport with community members and community and religious leaders and gain the trust of community members
• Create audio-visual educational materials highlighting the negative impact of FV on children in the languages spoken in the children’s community
• Develop support groups for men, women, and youth (boys, girls, non-binary youth) and offer safe space for discussion and finding pathways for resolving tensions
• Challenge mental health and FV-related stigma in ethnic communities
• Provide free community-based, trauma-informed, culturally appropriate counselling services for anyone affected by FV
• Engage community members in designing and implementing services

 

RECOMMENDATION #4

Schools need to play an essential role in supporting children who experience family violence

The participants of this study provided many suggestions on the potential of schools to be safe spaces to support and educate children experiencing FV. Their recommendations portray a broad vision of schools expanding their focus beyond imparting knowledge to nurturing and developing children’s capacities as individuals (Mehta et al., 2021). However, this concept of safe space does not align with the current “Duty to Report” expected of teachers. This points to the need for CPS and schools to think of ways that offer opportunities for children to talk without fear of the implications of doing so and reimagine culturally appropriate ways of supporting children (Ettinger, 2022; Lester et al., 2020; Maiter & Stalker, 2011; Ontario Human Rights Commission, 2018).

IDEAS FOR IMPLEMENTING RECOMMENDATION #4

• Organize after-school homework sessions to support children who do not have parental support due to FV or poverty
• Provide training in effective communication, anger management and life skills
• Provide sports and arts-based activities as an outlet
• Support teachers to develop pedagogical strategies that engage quiet and withdrawn children
• Offer a safe space for children to share their experiences and responses with either a teacher or a guidance counsellor without fear of being uprooted from their family
• Increase counselling support in schools

 

RECOMMENDATION #5

Acknowledge how systemic violence intersects with and exacerbates experiences of family violence

Systemic violence that is built into structures should be considered violent as they result in harm to the individual and groups of people (Galtung, 1969; Phillips & Pon, 2018; Rylko-Bauer & Farmer, 2017).

While the participants in our study did not downplay or excuse a parent’s violent behaviour, they reported that their family’s situation was complicated by systemic violence in the form of racism, colonialism, poverty, violations of children’s rights, trauma from systemic racism, trauma from war in their country of origin, and gaps in community and mental health services.

The narratives of Samantha, Sandiran, and Abi provide insight into the challenges of people living in intense poverty. Waiting for welfare cheques, asking others for financial assistance, waiting for child tax benefits, living from cheque to cheque, and living in low-income neighbourhoods are all forms of systemic violence committed by the State.

It is essential to reflect on the implications of deprivation on a growing child (Hillel & Sarangi, 2020). As reflected in the stories of Sandiran and Samantha, children living in poverty suffer deprivations and forced to contribute financially to their household at a young age.

Further, Sandiran’s description of life in a low-income neighbourhood is a reality for many racialized immigrant families (National Council of Welfare, 2012). It highlights the absence of support for families that are left to survive or succumb to their realities. It calls upon us to expand the conceptualization of FV beyond what occurs between family members to how racialized immigrant families that are vulnerable and need support get treated by the State.

 

RECOMMENDATION #6

Examine and rectify policies that maintain systemic inequity for racialized immigrants

Canada’s social welfare policies were developed with a white Eurocentric lens to assist families in need. However, in their development, many policies effectively ignored the challenges of racialized families (Thobani, 2007). Canada’s move towards public policies to promote multiculturalism in the late 20th century did not address the systemic racism in service delivery of income support programs or eliminate stereotypes of racialized and immigrant families (Thobani, 2000). Poverty is a form of systemic violence. Neoliberal and racist policies create economic inequalities, exclusionary practices, de-skilling of immigrant workers (Guo, 2015), workplace racism, and a lack of safe, affordable housing (Rylko-Bauer & Farmer, 2017). Similarly, Overlein (2017) and Callaghan et al. (2018) research has focused on experiences of White families and their research does not focus on the experiences of racialized children.

In our study, racialized participants had to deal with FV and resist the intersecting oppression of race, class, and their construction as immigrants. As Crenshaw (1991) and Galtung (1990) noted, the experience of FV is complicated by structural violence. This calls for a transformation in how service providers conceptualize, envision, and address the diverse needs of racialized immigrant children.

As we consider this recommendation in light of the justice system, the importance of understanding the social context – the lived reality and the cultural context of the family, in particular children, emerges. In the words of the Chief Justice of Canada, Beverley McLachlin, the evolving role of judges is to exercise “informed impartiality” (Martison & Jackson, 2017, p. 69), which requires judges to be introspective, open, and empathetic and appreciate the social context within which the matters at issue arose. We hope that the rich narratives in this research will help judges understand the social context for racialized families experiencing FV.

 

IDEAS FOR IMPLEMENTING RECOMMENDATIONS #5 AND #6

• Recognize the role systemic violence plays in exacerbating FV and provide supports to families that are experiencing systemic violence
• Recognize that systemic violence such as racism, exclusion, poverty, unsafe neighbourhoods, and escaping war creates trauma and children and individuals who have experienced such violence need trauma-informed mental health supports
• Provide funding and engage community-based organizations to address FV in communities.
• Provide holistic supports for all family members tailormade to their unique needs with a focus on their recovery and healing
• The trauma-informed supports should focus on removing the guilt, shame, and low self-esteem experienced by children experiencing FV by establishing a connection between their plight and systemic factors
• Provide material support beyond minimum wage, child tax benefits, and welfare support to families facing systemic violence for equity and social justice
• Establish breakfast clubs in schools for children from low-income families
• Offer cost-free programs for children to channel and enhance skills and interests
• Support and initiate a broad-based opposition/coalition that cuts across sectors and disciplines to advocate for systemic change.

 

RECOMMENDATION #7

Ensure that children are informed of and have a voice in the decision-making that is part of the family court process

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC, 1990) establishes the rights of children as knowing persons to live without discrimination (Article 2), that legal decision-making must be in their best interests (Article 3 (1)), the child’s right to life (Article 6), and the child’s right to state their opinions in all matters that affect them and to have their voices given weight (Article 12). Children exposed to FV have the right to access appropriate support and have their voices heard. We found that the youth in this study could not access adequate services to support them; their voices were erased because institutional racism and colonialism are embedded in the dominant structures of services. Participants described how their experiences with police, child welfare, school counsellors, and social workers aggravated and complicated their lives. This multi-layered trauma occurs when the trauma of FV intersects with the trauma of systemic violence.

 

RECOMMENDATION #8

Canada’s child welfare system must interrogate the racism, colonial bias, and classism inherent in its practices

A number of the research participants reported an increased precarious financial status upon settling in Canada. Past research has shown that racialized families in Canada experience inequitable power relations through workplace discrimination, de-skilling, restrictive immigration policies, workplace harassment, and lack of safe, affordable housing due to gentrification and residential segregation of racialized families (George & Rashidi, 2014; Hochstenbach & Musterd, 2018). Immigrants are overrepresented among people living in poverty. Just over half of all immigrants in Canada are from racialized groups. However, they make up just under two-thirds of all immigrants living in poverty (National Council of Welfare, 2012). Living in poverty is counter to children’s best interests (Kim & Drake, 2018). This necessitates a critical review and restructuring of restrictive policies for racialized immigrants, income support programs, and housing policies to assist racialized immigrant parents in meeting their children’s needs.

 

IDEAS FOR IMPLEMENTING RECOMMENDATIONS #7 AND #8

• Because the child is not a passive witness, their insights into how the child welfare system should be designed would positively impact the experience of future children experiencing FV. Including the voices of racialized immigrant children would contribute to reducing the racism, colonialism, and classism that are inherent in its practices
• Training practitioners in the social, community, and justice sectors should include introducing supportive ways to interact with children and youth, with a focus on ensuring that their voices are included in the process

 

RECOMMENDATION #9

Expand the current understanding of the Best Interest of the Child as outlined by the Divorce Act and recognize the impact of systemic violence on children

One of the participants in our study stressed the need for children to be informed about and have input into decision-making in the family court process. According to this participant, children’s perspectives are valuable in detecting and validating the presence of FV. Samantha’s recommendation aligns with legal professionals who highlight the necessity of including the child’s perspective in the decision-making process (Birnbaum & Bala, 2009), either through a culturally informed social worker or culturally informed children’s lawyer or through direct participation such as meeting the judge.

In family law, the child’s best interests must be primary and further harm must be prevented. However, children’s voices and wishes are negated when adult perspectives are privileged in post-separation decision-making or when jurisdictions lack the infrastructure to ensure meaningful child participation (Martinson & Tempesta, 2018). The rights of racialized children are more likely to be erased due to gaps in culturally appropriate means to include their voices (Caxaj & Berman, 2010). Family law and justice systems based on white European values and norms do not necessarily result in the best outcomes for racialized families (Soglin et al., 2019).

Participants in our study accessed few or no institutional supports, and most maintained secrecy about the violence they were experiencing at home. Participants feared significant harm to the whole family if CPS became involved. Participants spoke of direct experiences with CPS or had been warned through their communities that police and CPS interventions would be unhelpful, if not harmful, to the family because of a lack of culturally appropriate supports for racialized families and the tendency to problematize racialized parents (Phillips & Pon, 2018). This bias also exists in the family court community (Maldonado, 2017). This questions the value of existing services for racialized immigrant families meant to help families experiencing FV.

The participants’ voices are a call for service providers to challenge their assumptions of a society that is a safe space beyond FV. Service providers must re-think and broaden their understanding of the violence racialized children are exposed to daily and reconcile the family law and community services approaches to protect children from harm due to FV and the systemic violence of oppression, exclusion, and marginalization.

Our findings reveal that the participants in this study were not passive witnesses but had impressive insights into their families and the systemic violence they experienced, as well as highly knowledgeable insights about what was best for them. The study participants critiqued the policies and practices of CPS and questioned whether they acted in the child’s best interests (Ma, 2021). Racialized parents should not have to educate their children to protect themselves from CPS scrutiny. CPS must interrogate the structural racism and classism inherent in viewing poverty as an individual client problem independent of systemic factors (Kim & Drake, 2018). It is necessary to critically analyze how white European norms about good parenting practices can be problematic when employed by institutions and actors that evaluate parenting in non-white families (George et al., 2022). The participants’ accounts validate Phillips and Pon’s (2018) analysis of how white, colonial norms and biases inherent in CPS are privileged over the child-rearing practices of Black, Indigenous, and racialized immigrant families, resulting in over-representation of Black, Indigenous, and racialized children in the care of CPS (Kim & Drake, 2018; Ontario Human Rights Commission, 2018).

The findings of this research highlight how varied forms of systemic violence aggravated and complicated the impact of FV on these children. In March 2021 the amendments to the Divorce Act introduced an enumerated test of the Best Interest of the Child. Divorce Act 16(3)(f) includes as best interests factor the child’s cultural, linguistic, religious and spiritual upbringing and heritage, including Indigenous upbringing and heritage.

Moreover, s. 16 (3) (j) states that

In determining the best interests of the child, the court shall consider all factors related to the circumstances of the child, including any family violence and its impact on, among other things, the ability and willingness of any person who engaged in the family violence to care for and meet the needs of the child, and the appropriateness of making an order that would require persons in respect of whom the order would apply to cooperate on issues affecting the child (emphasis added).

The words “among other things” can be interpreted to mean that judges are to consider other factors that may be relevant to the impact of violence, in addition to the enumerated Best Interest factors that are relevant to the impact of violence. It is important to note that what constitutes FV in the Divorce Act is expansive but non-exhaustive.

S. 16(4) of the Divorce Act lists seven specific factors that are in the best interests of the child and lists “any other factor” as well. However, it falls short of expressly recognizing systemic factors in determining the best interests of the child, and not only personal/family factors, specifically for children from racialized and marginalized families. Expanding the understanding of the child’s best interests in family law is needed. This expansion necessitates going beyond responsibility for the child’s best interests in court-involved FV cases to recognizing systemic violence when considering the child’s best interests. It is not in children’s best interests to live with poverty, racism, or social exclusion. We must listen to children’s and youth’s voices and consider FV and systemic factors to determine what is necessary to meet individual children’s needs. There is a growing acceptance of children’s human rights, which begins with treating them as holders of their legal rights. By improving our understanding of the intersectional vulnerabilities of racialized youth and the impact of multiple systems, we can strengthen prevention and improve responses.

The research participants reported that they were impacted by FV and living with day-to-day systemic violence in the form of personal, structural, and institutional violence. Systemic violence compounded the participants’ lives as additional trauma. Family violence disclosures can lead to contact with services and resources—family, schools, CPS, police, health services, legal aid, family law, criminal justice, housing, immigration services, and counselling services—and this involvement with services increases the likelihood of systemic violence. Hence, until there is a recognition of the systemic violence of racism and poverty and a response to end it and until there is a genuine commitment to address issues faced by racialized immigrant children and, above all, respect the rights of these children as individuals, their future remains bleak. Anti-FV policies and practices must include eradicating the systemic violence and inequities impacting racialized children in Canada.

Emerging from the findings, we strongly argue for expanding the elements of the enumerated Best Interest of the Child test in the Divorce Act to specifically include a consideration of the compounded effects of structural and systemic violence that complicate the experience of FV for racialized immigrant families and their children. The enumerated factors in s. 16 (4) of the Best Interest test were included in the legislative amendments of the Divorce Act based on the growing evidence that each type of violence has a unique impact and effect. To determine which parenting arrangement is in the best interests of the child, the court must consider the particular nature and impact of the FV (https://justice.gc.ca/eng/fl-df/cfl-mdf/dace-clde/div62.html). The authors of this report are mindful that the enumerated factors listed in s. 16 (4) are not exhaustive, and the court may consider factors that are not on the list. However, express inclusion of structural and systemic violence as an additional factor would make it mandatory to take it into consideration for the Best Interest analysis.

IDEAS FOR IMPLEMENTING RECOMMENDATION #9

• The Best Interest of the Child is determined not only by personal/family factors but also by systemic factors, specifically for children from racialized and marginalized families. What it means to be in the best interests of a child needs to be expanded to include systemic violence (i.e., it is not in children’s best interests to live with poverty, racism, and social exclusion)
• Children and youth need to be involved in discussions about what is in the best interests of the child. We must consider not only FV but also systemic factors to determine what is needed to meet individual children’s needs
• Anti-FV policies and practices must become more responsive to the systemic inequities impacting racialized children in Canada. Until there is a recognition of the systemic violence of racism and poverty and a response to end it and until there is a genuine commitment to address issues faced by racialized immigrant children, and above all, until the rights of these children as individuals are respected, these inequities will persist

 

RECOMMENDATION #10

Provide anti-racist, anti-colonial, trauma-based, and culturally appropriate training for
educators, social, community, and justice practitioners.

The participants in our study could not access culturally appropriate support in schools and counselling services. Our findings reveal that a significant number of responses from professionals were unhelpful and even harmful in some cases. Teachers and mental health professionals were often white and middle-class and unfamiliar with the child’s reality.

The excerpts from Sandiran’s and Abi’s interviews point out the limitations of Eurocentric mental health practices in addressing FV and war trauma in racialized immigrant families (Kanagaratnam et al., 2021). Their reflections highlight the need to reimagine mental health interventions that keep families together instead of the current emphasis on separation and divorce. Their reflections emphasize healing and recovery from FV for all family members, hence the necessity of family-oriented interventions (Mehta et al., 2021) that provide opportunities to work with all family members.

Participants’ reports of suffering from FV, systemic violence, and war trauma highlight the need for culturally appropriate, trauma-informed programs for children. These findings support the urging of many scholars to expand concepts of trauma to include trauma from systemic violence (Clark, 2016; Craps, 2014). As part of Canada’s and Ontario’s anti-racism strategies (Canadian Heritage, 2019; Government of Ontario, 2021) and equity and anti-discrimination policies for schools and mental health services, implementing anti-racist and AOP training is vital to better outcomes for racialized children.

The participants in our study made valuable recommendations for supports, grounded in their lived experiences. The recommendations identified a new role for schools and called for re-envisioning how schools can be hubs for providing services that racialized immigrant children often do not access because of their familial and immigration context. Participants recommended trauma and culturally appropriate mental health services for children, youth, and adults.

Similar to the findings of past research (Ahmad et al., 2009; Thandi, 2012), our study identifies cultural values and family relationships as positive factors for addressing systemic racism and exclusion, low income or dependence on parents as providers; lack of affordable, culturally appropriate services; and families’ fear of CPS intervention if the children reach out to a teacher or counsellor (Maiter & Stalker, 2011). In keeping with George and Rashidi (2014) and Mehrotra et al. (2016), who point out the culture-blaming discourses that disregard systemic factors in relation to FV in South Asian communities and have criminalized brown Muslim men after 9/11, participants of this research expressed concern about the unintended consequences of stigmatizing and criminalizing their fathers because of their race or culture. Interventions with individuals involved in FV reflect dominant culture’s norms (Riel et al., 2016), and do not address the experiences and multi-dimensional needs of racialized immigrant men and women engaging in abusive behaviour (Thandi, 2012). Based on these considerations, a nuanced, anti-essentialist approach (Wing, 2015) that recognizes every family’s unique circumstances is needed when deciding on children’s future.

Effective implementation of our recommendations requires anti-racist, anti-colonial, trauma-based, and cultural sensitivity training for service providers and a greater allocation of funds for sectors dealing with FV. The recommendations call for expanding the focus of current services for racialized families from remedial to including preventive supports. The successful development of culturally and trauma-informed services can only happen by engaging racialized immigrant communities in the design and management of services. Above all, these changes call for the sectors that provide services to these families to be open to transforming their services. Only when this happens will the UN Convention on respecting children’s rights as individuals be truly implemented.

IDEAS FOR IMPLEMENTING RECOMMENDATION #10

• Prioritize training for service providers in anti-racist, anti-colonial, trauma-based and culturally informed practice, conducted in collaboration with community partners.
• Train professionals to focus on early intervention and prevention of FV.
• Train professionals to assess the connections between personal and systemic risk factors as they contribute to FV and respond appropriately using culturally appropriate approaches.
• Train professionals to include practices that focus on recovery and healing from the trauma of FV.