THE PROTECTION AGAINST FAMILY VIOLENCE ACT

Family Violence Case Study

A 25 year old mother of three, oldest being eight, middle five, and youngest being 4 months immigrated from South Africa two years ago. Husband has been very abusive, and slapped her around. Held a knife to her throat, promised to kill himself if she left him. Physically abused her in front of kids pulled her by her hair to the bedroom and sexually abused her. She refuses to press charges. Husband is mentally ill. She is afraid of him and finally called the police when one of his violent episodes resulted in him pushing the oldest child against the wall when he was trying to protect his mom. She went to a women’s first stage shelter and they referred to the John Howard Society. She has been in the shelter for a week.

prepare a case example to show how the legislation is applied in a real life client or personal situation. The group will prepare an ecomap of their case study including various agencies, programs, institutions and different levels of government (if applicable) related to case study. (ecomap- class handout).
present a case conference playing family members and representatives from each of the various agencies and the different levels of government (if applicable). Group will draw their ecomap on the white board and introduce their case study. present on the following questions:
1) How does the vision or purpose of the legislation relate to your agency’s mandate?
2) What population does your agency serve?
3) How does the legislation directly apply to your case study?
4) What are the gaps in service for your client and how could this legislation be improved? 5) How could social workers use an anti-oppressive model in implementing the legislation?