Children’s Services

During a stay at the Emergency Shelter, women are encouraged to bring their children to ensure the safety of everyone in the home. Shelter staff will advocate, provide referrals, safety planning and support for mothers and their children during their stay.

Supplies for activities such as crafts and sports are provided to children.

• The Children’s Outreach Counsellor provides early intervention to children aged 4 to 16 in Hastings and Prince Edward County who have been exposed to domestic violence.
• The Children’s Outreach Counsellor will provide children with the opportunity to process and understand the abuse experienced by the family, while developing constructive coping strategies through individual counselling.
• The Children’s Outreach Counsellor will collaborate with mothers and their children to create a safety plan in the event of further violence. The purpose of the safety plan is to prepare children so that they may make safe choices for personal protection.
• Children’s Group: Three Oaks Foundation offers group intervention to children in an effort to end the cycle of violence. The focus of group will be reducing feelings of isolation and promoting the healthy expression of feelings in a safe, validating environment.
• Triple P services are available upon request to help mother’s reclaim authority and assert positive parenting strategies during their journey of parenting after abuse.

Children’s Outreach Program topics include, but are not limited to the following:

• Managing emotions
• Types of abuse and myths about intimate partner violence
• Safety planning
• Conflict resolution
• Communication styles
• Boundary setting
• Healthy relationships
• Self-esteem

Children can be exposed to domestic violence in a variety of ways, all of these ways have long-lasting implications on a child. A child can be affected when they see or hear their mother being abused. They can also be impacted by being told about the abuse or seeing the aftermath of the abuse.

Potential implications to a child:

• Difficulty forming attachments
• Premature birth
• Low birth weight
• Anxiety and/or depression
• Stomach aches
• Post-traumatic stress
• Frequent illness
• Weight concerns
• Asthma
• Allergies
• Mental health conditions
• Chronic pain & pain conditions

Signs that may indicate exposure to domestic violence:

• Increased emotional behaviours and difficulty regulating emotions; e.g. display of aggression, excessively irritable or hyperactivity.
• Diminished school performance and academic achievement.
• Tiredness as a result of sleep disturbances