Mission, mandate & guiding principles
Luke’s Place envisions a family law system that promotes healthy, safe families, living free from abuse and the threat of abuse.
Mission statement
Luke’s Place works with women who have been subjected to abuse to support them and their children through the family law process. We provide women, their children and their communities with specialized services, resources and information about family law and woman abuse.
Mandate
Luke’s Place provides direct services to women in the Durham Region and is a leader in its systemic work across the province.
- We provide individualized support to women who have been subjected to abuse to navigate the family law system as safely as possible.
- We work with women one on one and in group settings, including peer support groups and workshops.
- We engage with and support family law lawyers in our community, which enhances both our work and the work they do in private practice or other settings.
- We develop and maintain specialized resources online and in print for use by women who have been subjected to abuse and their advocates.
- We develop and provide education and training to those working in a number of sectors including violence against women service providers, lawyers, police, court personnel and others.
- We engage in advocacy and consultation with a wide range of institutions and organizations, including government.
- We conduct research related to women’s experiences of the family law system and on the intersections between violence against women and the law/legal systems.
Guiding principles
- Women and their children have the right to be safe, and family law should promote and provide this safety.
- Addressing violence against women requires an intersectional feminist approach.
- Women’s stories of their lived experience shape and direct our work.
- Violence against women is a global social reality. Ending it is a global social responsibility.
- Our direct service work grounds our provincial work and our systemic advocacy.
