The Indo-Canadian Women’s Association and partners[1] have produced an in-depth narrative report on practices, challenges and unmet needs in Home Visitation (HV)-based supports to diverse mothers living in situations of family violence (FV) in Alberta, Canada. ​ The report provides evidence to develop and pilot a home visitation protocol for diverse vulnerable mothers and mothers-to be coping with the effects of family violence. You can read the full report here.

The data is from focus groups and interviews conducted across Alberta with Indigenous and immigrant-refugee women (including survivors of family violence), home visitors, and workers in child protection services (Children’s Services, CS). Data collection was between October 2019 and January 2020 in urban, rurban and rural locations, with 43 interviewees and 80 participants in 9 focus groups.

The assessment showed that fear of reporting of violence to child protection services impacts enrolment and retention in HV service and lowers the prospects of HV to deliver anti-violence supports in women in their homes. This is consistent with earlier research on this topic. Also, current family violence screening tools and training curricula for home visitors in Alberta should

  • reflect more intersectionality and capture the reality of the lives of diverse vulnerable mothers coping with violence.
  • guide HVs on appropriate disclosure handling and support to diverse families in case of involvement with child protection services.
  • help HVs identify ways to engage families as a whole (e.g. responsibility planning with aggressors).
  • incorporate adaptability to situations of social distancing, as imposed by the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Recommendations are made for improvements at client-provider, intra- and inter-agency and cross-sectoral levels: (1) HV support to survivors of abuse and violence (2) Organizational responses to practice-related needs and challenges of HVs (3) Public Engagement (4) Professional development, knowledge sharing, and collaboration.

[1] Multicultural Health Brokers Co-Operative; Institute for the Advancement of Aboriginal Women; Alberta Home Visitation Network Association; Community Advocates; Children’s Services, Edmonton Region, Govt of Alberta, and Edmonton Mennonite Centre for Newcomers