Committees

Shelter Committee

The Woman Abuse Council encourages all shelters to participate in the work of the Shelter Committee. This committee was formed to provide an opportunity for shelter workers to identify and address issues that arise from and directly impact the provision of service and support to women and children fleeing abusive relationships. Members make recommendations for the 30 member Woman Abuse Council to endorse and act upon.

Membership on the committee is open to staff working in shelters with abused women and their children.

The Shelter Committee is a forum for its members to:

identify and explore issues common to abused women’s shelters
coordinate a response to identified issues and concerns
engage in advocacy
network with each other and with representatives of key sectors
share information about programs and services
be a resource for other sectors working on policy development and training

The committee members achieve their goals through a number of activities including:

educational presentations
guest speakers
information sharing between members
presentation and discussion of case studies
training opportunities
exploration of models and community development initiatives from other communities.

One of the major projects of the Committee was the development of an operating agreement between the Toronto Police Service and women’s shelters on how to work together to protect the safety of women. An agreement between all 18 of the city’s shelters was completed in 2000, however, for a variety of reasons it was not implemented at that time.

Over the past year, the agreement was revisited and is currently in the process of being updated. We hope to implement the revised Operating Agreement by end of 2007.

The committee members use the infrastructure of the Woman Abuse Council of Toronto to facilitate inter-agency and inter-sectoral collaboration.

The Committee meets on the third Wednesday of the month. There are no meetings in July and August.

Current Initiatives

Training Opportunities - offered to shelter workers in collaboration with Springtide Resources (formerly Education Wife Assault) to address the service needs of deaf and disabled women. To find out more about these training opportunities contact Fran Odette at 416- 968-3422 or info@womanabuseprevention.com or call WACT at 416-944-9242 or e-mail wact@womanabuse.ca.

Intake Processes - a review of current intake policies to develop a model response for completing intakes of women and their children that will not require women to disclose their experiences multiple times.

Housing Issues - ongoing discussions about the lengthy wait times for women to access Priority Housing.

Central Family Intake - a joint initiative to improve access to services developed by shelter staff, child welfare staff and staff from Central Family Intake, a city-wide referral agency for shelter beds.

Police Documentation Project - documentation logs will be developed for agencies to use to monitor police responses to woman abuse. Information will be used in partnership with Toronto Police Services to identify themes, trends and possible follow-up action with respect to police intervention.

Recent Initiatives

Police/Shelter Operating Agreement - the committee is revising a framework first developed in 1998 that identifies how police and shelter workers can work together when their roles overlap.

Discussion of Shelter Transfer Policies - to address transfer policies among shelters.

Information Sessions – to inform members about topics such as the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board and Victim/Witness Assistance Program.

Workshops: Creating Connections - A Dialogue About Woman Abuse and Mental Health; Making Connections and Creating Change: Woman Abuse, Immigration and Refugee Issues.

Donations for Shelters - coordination of donations from individual and corporate donors.

For more information or to become involved with the Shelter Committee, please contact 416-944-9242 or email wact@womanabuse.ca.