Newfoundland and Labrador Fact Sheet

The Transition Home Survey is conducted on a biennial basis as part of the federal government's Family Violence Initiative. The 2003/04 questionnaire was sent to 543 shelters in Canada known to be providing residential services for women victims of abuse and their children. Responses were received from 473 shelters (87%).

The questionnaire was sent to 14 facilities in Newfoundland and Labrador and responses were received from 86% of the shelters.

There were 1,084 admissions of women and dependant children reported from April 1, 2003 to March 31, 2004 .¹

A profile of residents, April 14, 2004²

In a snapshot taken on April 14, 2004 , there were 62 residents in shelters in Newfoundland and Labrador : 61% (38) were women and 39% (24) were dependant children.

79% (30) of women residing in shelters on April 14, 2004 , were victims of abuse and the remainder were admitted for reasons other than abuse, such as housing problems. Of those admitted for abuse, 100% were fleeing psychological abuse, 67% physical abuse, 60% threats, 33% harassment, 20% financial abuse, and 13% sexual abuse.³

43% of women escaping abusive situations were admitted with their children; 75% (18) of these children were under 10 years of age.

43% of women with parental responsibilities who were admitted for abuse indicated that they were also protecting their children from witnessing abuse of their mother, 29% from psychological abuse, 5% from physical abuse, and 5% from threats.⁴

83% of abused women indicated that their spouse or partner was the abuser. Another 10% were abused by a relative, 3% by someone from an ex-dating relationship, and 3% were abused by a friend or acquaintance.

The most common sources of referral for women residing in shelters on April 14 th , 2004, were: self-referral (40%), another transition house (26%), and family or friends (10%).⁵

29% of women residing in shelters on April 14, 2004, had been there before. More then a quarter (27%) of repeat clients had been there once in the last year, and another 27% had been there 2 to 4 times.⁶

37% of abused women had reported police intervention for the most recent violent incident and, in 45% of these reported cases charges were laid against the abuser

A profile of shelters, 2003/04

All reporting shelters served urban/suburban populations, 50% served rural/village populations and 8% served reserve populations.

The majority of shelters offered the following in-house services to women residents: advocacy (92%), housing referral (83%), and life skills (83%).

Facilities also provided in-house services to non-resident women in need of assistance. These services included crisis telephone lines (58%), as well as individual short-term counselling, legal services, financial assistance and welfare, services for women with disabilities, and advocacy, each of these services were provided by about half of all agencies.

In-house services offered to resident children included: outdoor recreation spaces (58%), indoor recreation spaces (58%), babysitting services (42%), and group counselling (33%).

Three-quarters of shelters reported at least one building entrance that was wheelchair accessible, another 75% had bedrooms that were wheelchair accessible and the same proportion had bathrooms that were wheelchair accessible. 25% offered services to people who are blind or visually impaired and a third offered services to people who are deaf or hearing impaired.

12 facilities reported providing a total of 29 outreach ⁷ hours per week.

Footnotes

1. The precise reporting period may vary. Shelters were asked to provide information for the twelve-month period ending March 31, 2004 or their own twelve month fiscal period.

2. No women departed on snapshot day.

3. Totals do not add to 100% due to multiple responses.

4. Totals do not add to 100% due to multiple responses. 'Women with parenting responsibilities' include women admitted to shelters with their children and women admitted without their children. However, it is not known if women admitted without their children had custody of those children at the time of admittance.

5. Totals do not add to 100% due to multiple responses.

6. For some repeat clients the number of times they had been to the shelter previously was unknown.

7. Outreach work included supplying information, accompanying victims to court, meeting with clients to discuss possibilities/options, and participating in drop-in centres. While shelters varied in the number of hours of outreach provided, the provincial average was 28.5 hours per week.