DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

INTERSECTIONAL VULNERABILITIES

1. What are the different types of abuse/violence that the children in the case studies experienced?
2. How did systemic violence aggravate personal violence in the case studies? Which supports would you offer/recommend to alleviate the effects of systemic barriers?
3. Why is it important to consider a person’s intersectional identity while planning services? Explain how consideration of intersectional identities would influence the services you design.
4. Many of the case studies demonstrate children’s agency while experiencing FV. What supports would you design to harness and bolster the strengths of these children?

PRACTITIONERS’ SUBJECTIVITY AND SOCIAL LOCATION

1. How have the case studies challenged your understanding of FV and its impact on racialized immigrant children? Based on this understanding, how would you change what you would do as a practitioner working in the field?
2. Read the following statement: “You need a professional  of the same cultural or religious background as the client/ service user to deliver culturally informed services.” Do you agree or disagree? Why?

LAW AND SOCIAL POLICY

1. What are the legal protections available to children experiencing family of FV in Canada under various civil, criminal and immigration laws? Based on the case studies, what kind of legislative and policy changes are needed for responding to the needs of racialized immigrant children experiencing FV in Canada?
2. What is the importance of “bringing the voice of a child” into decision making about matters that impact them?
3. What are the impacts of exposure to/witnessing or experiencing violence on children? How should that factor into the “best interests of the child” analysis?
4. What role should the understanding of FV play in intervening in and resolving cases involving parental disputes?
5. Do you think family justice professionals need training in trauma-informed practice? Why?
6. What do you understand by the term coercive control? Where did you see the type of patterns of abusive behaviors used to control a family member in the case studies?
7. What professional skills do we need to develop to ensure that our practice is informed by the voices of children?

MIGRATION AND TRANSNATIONALISM

1. In what ways did transnational relationships support or create challenges for the participants experiencing FV?
2. How did the immigrant experience make the families more vulnerable to FV in the case studies?
3. What are the misconceptions immigrant families might have about deportation and their lack of rights as immigrants? How might you address these?

PROVIDING SUPPORT

1. What kinds of supports (legal, medical, social) did the participants in these case studies access? What were the barriers to accessing support?
2. Identify the personal and systemic challenges that impacted the FV experiences in each of these cases.
3. How would you provide holistic support to racialized immigrant youth experiencing FV?
4. How would you use a trauma-informed approach in supporting racialized immigrant children and youth who have experienced or witnessed FV?
5. Each of the cases illustrates risk factors, systemic factors and supportive factors that impacted the experience of FV. Enumerate these factors for the cases you have read. How does your analysis compare with those identified by the authors of this book? See Appendix 1.
6. In many of these cases, participants and their families interacted with various services and supports. Not all these interactions were positive. Where could practice have improved to make a positive difference for these families?
7. Family violence can feel overwhelming. You may wonder how you can influence positive change in situations like the ones represented in the case studies. Take a few minutes to come up with ways in which we can work with racialized immigrant communities to prevent incidences of FV.

RESEARCH

1. When doing research, what steps would you take to minimize the risk of harm to participants who had experienced FV as children?
2. This study uses phenomenological interviews to center young people’s voices. What other approaches are suitable when doing research to understand the experiences of young people who have experienced FV?
3. Describe the potential of participatory action research in engaging communities to understand children’s/youths’ experiences of FV.
4. Design a knowledge dissemination plan based on the case studies that presents key messages for stakeholders.