Suffering in Silence

Woman Abuse in the Jewish Immigrant Community

The Steinbergs are helping women who are suffering in silence.

So many abused women suffer in silence - afraid or unable to take the daunting step of reaching out for help. Imagine the additional burden on abused women who are new to the country with limited English. In recent years, Jewish Family & Child has experienced an increase in the need to provide woman abuse services to newcomer women in their own language.

Thanks to a very generous grant from Lewis and Charlotte Steinberg through UJA Federation, JF&CS has been able to expand its Woman Abuse Program to include the services of a Russian and Hebrew speaking social worker - enabling us to address the needs of a population of women who we were not able to previously reach.

With the addition of this staff person, JF&CS has learned from these women about their values, their traditions and gender roles in their countries of origin. We have learned to integrate cultural sensitivity into the work of the Woman Abuse team as well as other agency programs - such as child protection. We know that woman abuse has a serious impact on the physical and emotional safety and healthy development of the children in these families.

Jewish Family & Child’s Woman Abuse Program began in 1986. Woman abuse is a complex, widespread and serious problem for the Jewish community as it is in all of Canada. It has devastating physical, psychological and emotional effects on women and on the lives of their children.

Each year, we serve more than 1,000 women who rely on us for crisis intervention, individual and group counselling; advocacy; and assistance with access to safe housing, and financial and legal assistance.

Jewish Family & Child is grateful for the Steinberg's compassion and commitment to alleviating the tragedy of woman abuse. For more information about the Woman Abuse program, click here or call 416.638.7800.