Ontario 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 155 facilities in Ontario and responses were received from 85% of the shelters.

There were 28,791 admissions of women and dependant children reported from April 1, 2003 to March 31, 2004.¹

A profile of residents, April 14, 2004

In a snapshot taken on April 14, 2004, there were 2,527 residents in shelters in Ontario: 53% (1,329) were women and 47% (1,198) were dependant children.

74% (981) 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, 85% were fleeing psychological abuse, 67% physical abuse, 48% threats, 44% financial abuse, 29% harassment, and 24% sexual abuse.²

53% of women escaping abusive situations were admitted with their children; 65% (638) of these children were under 10 years of age.

53% of women with parental responsibilities who were admitted for abuse indicated that they were also protecting their children from witnessing the abuse of their mother, 37% from psychological abuse, 26% from physical abuse, 15% from threats, and 9% from neglect.³

59% of abused women indicated that their spouse or partner was the abuser, 15% were abused by a former spouse or partner, 8% by a relative, 7% by someone from a current or ex-dating relationship, 4% by others, and for 7%, the relationship was unknown.⁴

The most common sources or referral for women residing in shelters on April 14 th , 2004 , were: self-referral (31%), another community agency (17%), another transition house (15%), and family or friends (8%).⁵

22% of women residing in shelters on April 14, 2004 , had been there before. 38% of repeat clients had been there once in the last year, 24% had been there 2 to 4 times and 15% had been there 5 or more times.⁶

Among women leaving the shelter on snapshot day 31% went to another agency, 21% left for new accommodations without their spouse or partner. 14% went to stay with friends or relatives, and 7% returned home without their spouse or partner. It was unknown where 21% were going to reside. Only 7% returned to their spouse or partner.

30% of abused women had reported police intervention for the most recent violent incident and, in 63% of these reported cases charges were laid against the abuser.

A profile of shelters, 2003/04

92% of shelters served urban/suburban populations, 41% served rural/village populations and 27% served reserve populations.

12 (9%) shelters were located on a reserve. 8% of shelters were owned by a band council and the same proportion were operated by a band council.

The majority of shelters offered the following in-house services to women residents: housing referral (96%), advocacy (96%), individual short-term counselling (93%) and, parenting skills (86%).

Facilities also provided in-house services to non-resident women in need of assistance. These services included crisis telephone lines (73%), advocacy (71%), housing referral and individual short-term counselling, each provided by two-thirds of agencies.

In-house services offered to resident children included indoor recreation spaces (80%), outdoor recreation spaces (80%), individual counselling (72%), and programs for child witnesses or victims of abuse (70%).

85% of shelters reported at least one building entrance that was wheelchair accessible, 77% reported having bathrooms that were wheelchair accessible and 75% reported having bedrooms that were wheelchair accessible. 42% offered services to people who are deaf or hearing impaired and one-quarter offered services to people who are blind or visually impaired.

132 facilities reported providing a total of 6,092 outreach⁷ 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. Totals do not add to 100% due to multiple responses.

3. 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.

4. 'Others' includes friend or acquaintance, caregiver and authority figure.

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 46 hours per week.