NORTHwestERN ontario
WOMEN'S CENTRE NEWS

The landlord finally provided a face lift and painted the outside of the Centre...Soon we will have a badly needed new sign. Hopefully, we will paint the inside of the Centre this summer as well. ** We are applying to Vol Net for funding for a computer subsidy and a public Internet connection. ** Still no news on our core funding (we were supposed to know by March 31st!), although our contract has been extended until the end of September. We are hoping to hear by the end of July. ** Parents Advocating Responsibility (our child support lobby group) had a very successful barbecue and raised $512 towards the cost of their button campaign. ** Our final child custody legal clinic (for the current project) was held June 17, on the theme of child protection. Paula is continuing to work with the FRO, and starting to put together the survival guide. ** Northern Women's Centre, through Sleeping Giant Refugee Group, has begun the process to sponsor a refugee woman and her son from Sierra Leone. **

FRO Agrees to Address Problems with Child Support Enforcement Locally

In June, our Custody and Access Coordinator was able to arrange a public meeting here in Thunder Bay with the director of the Family Responsibility Office, her staff, local MPPs, Parents Advocating Responsibility and other concerned individuals. It was a very productive meeting, at least in terms of concerns raised, and solutions that were promised. The Director, Sharon Van Son, admitted that there were many problems at the FRO and discussed her plans for improvement. She says new measures will include:

• more staff training, including how to treat emotional or angry callers respectfully.
• more consistency in staff response and provision of information (clients might have a direct line number to the staff person in charge of your file)
• a case management / staff team approach to each file, and more attention paid to follow up.
• more public outreach
• improvements to the tone and type of information in correspondence from the FRO

Research Project

My name is Amy Brown and I am an anthropology student at Lakehead University. I am presently working on my Honours Thesis in order to complete my H.B.A. I am working with the Northern Women’s Centre to research how a women’s advocacy group in Thunder Bay represents women’s issues and how this knowledge is used to empower local women.

After spending some time in the Centre, I have decided to focus on the work being done with child custody and support. I attended the final Family Law Clinic and am in the process of looking at the literature produced by the Centre around the issue. In addition to this, I am interested in speaking with women who have been involved with NWC’s work in custody and support issues. I would like to know how the Centre’s work has impacted your own situation and how you plan to use the information in the future ( for example, future advocacy work ). I can guarantee confidentiality, unless you give specific permission to use your real name in the writing of my thesis.

If you are interested in participating in this project, I can be reached by e-mail at hmwarnar@flash.lakeheadu.ca or by phone at 345-3361. I appreciate any help you can give me.

FRO continued....

• FRO staff traveling to Thunder Bay on a regular basis to deal directly with clients having problems with the enforcement system

Northern Women's Centre is about to begin negotiating with the FRO and local MPP's in order to organize "FRO days" in Thunder Bay. If you have ideas about structure or timing for FRO staff in Thunder Bay to work directly with people affected by problems with the system, please contact Paula or Gwen at the Centre. We hope to have something in place by September.

In the mean time, MPP's are still helping people through the system with their established protocol. Personal links have been established which should increase our ability to advocate with the FRO. Our MPP's maintain that the Downsview office is seriously understaffed, which may make a case management system impossible. We'll wait and see!