JANUARY 20. 1950 THE CANADIAN JEWISH REVIEW Helping Newcomers To Find Their Way Annual Report By Dora Wilensky, Director of the Jewish Family and Child Service of Toronto it. How are the children whom the Canadian Jewish Congress brought from the D.P. camps getting along? What difficulties do immigrant families face in resettlement? What kind of help does the agency give? and why casework services? What problems do we encounter and what �re the agency's objectives for the coming year? Along with the concern that is shown for the adjustment and happiness of our charges comes the question as to why 50% of them still came to the agency in the past months for some kind of help or counselling. In answer to this we must first of all remind ourselves that apart from actual individual need for service we have been deputized - by Canadian Jewish Congress as the legal guardian for those children who are under 18 years of age. About 30% of the employed youngsters still do not earn enough to maintain themselves on a minimum budget. However, over half of those receiving casework or counselling services, are financially independent, but do ask help in time of crisis with personal problems concerning relationships in their home, on the job � and in planning for the bringing of relatives from Europe. For example, Marcia who came to Canada about a year ago has worked almost from the time of ker arrival; so that for the past five months she has been self-' maintaining, on her own, and completely independent of the agency. Recently, however, something has happened within the family with whom she is living, and by whom she has felt wanted and loved � something which makes it neces- forj^er to leave. Fnimediately she is set back, her rity is gone, she feels completely rejected and as alone as she did on the day she first arrived here. She needs help in seeing what has happened to her in its true perspective � help in understanding the feelings of the people concerned, in overcoming her own resentments so that she may find a way to make peace with the inevitable and at the same time realize that all is not lost, that she still has her friends, although not exactly as she wants them. Myer, too, has been in Canada a year and independent and on his own for months, but now he re-applies to the agency, he needs a major operation, he feels alone, he is fearful, he needs help in seeing that the operation is not a calamity and help in planning for he will not be able to return to work for a month. Although_all the youths needed a period of dependency on the* agency, both for material and psychological reasons, for the majority, the main drive has been towards securing employment in order that they be self-maintaining and on their own. Our objective in working with them was to help them to achieve this as soon as possible, along with giving them help in finding homes, in taking the maximum advantage of educational, social and other opportunities. Most important to these youngsters however, has been the relationship which each had with his caseworker, who saw each as a person in his own right with his own special feelings and needs. It was the caseworker who understood his hopes, his fears, his loneliness, who helped him to plan and to grow up. Many became independent of the agency within a year. For others more time was required, some on the other hand, needed less time. I want to say to this meeting and through you, to the entire community that far from being apologetic when asked why we continue to give a counselling ser- cclataied forjxcellence Dewar's is the medal Scotch of the world .winner of more than 50 medals and prizes for*" unmatched merit. DEWAR'S OLD SCOTCH WHISKY TltllO. t I I M 0 I O AND BOTTLED IN SCOTLAND vice to half of our youths, that both Canadian Jewish Congress and the Jewish Family and Child Service can be proud that we do. What does it mean? It means first of all, that we are prematurely withdrawing help, but discharging in full, the responsibility undertaken on behalf of the Jewish community when the immigration of these youths was arranged. Secondly, services given now are preventive against the development of difficulties later which would be harmful to the youths and more costly to the community in both human values and in money. And, thirdly, the fact that these youngsters come for Counselling in time of crisis reveals more than anything else the constructive role which the two agencies play in their lives. Most of these youths now seem like young men and women. They have grown and are self-reliant, they are beginning to feel that this IB their country and their home. They work during the day and study hard at night; they have -learned to manage their own affairs and are very active in helping others to emigrate here. The community can well be proud of them. With the arrival in Toronto of an estimated five thousand people from the Displaced Persons camps, coming through the various trade schemes and sponsorship of relatives, our agency, like the 64 other Jewish family and child care agencies in Canada and the United States, has been meeting requests for casework service from an in- . creasing number of immigrant families. While the others show large increases in the number of people served, of which between one-third and one-half are newcomers, the numbers in our agency are less since the Canadian Jewish Congress, the Overseas Garment Commission, and the Jewish Immigrant Aid Society carry responsibility for the reception, housing, migration services, and initial assistance to-this group, referring to ue only those families with whose problems they �ccl they cannot deal. An illustration of the changes which must be made to serve this new group is to be found on one of our charts which shows the Mothers And Babes Rest Home giving a camping experience this year to 531 people as compared to 326 in the previous year; forty-five per cent of the total number of campers this year being immigrant families. These newcomers to our country, carefully screened for their physical and mental health, are not problems. True they have problems, some of which are common to many of us, and others peculiar to people transplanted from surrounding's where for many years the issue foremost in their minds was how to survive. They have to find their way in a new culture, in a strange country, which although their goal for jnany years, they find on getting here, challenging, confusing and sometimes even frightening. It is important first of all, that we do not over-omphasize their difference and their problem?. To do this is harmful to them, in that it regards what they want and need most, namely, to begin to feel part of the life-stream of this country. It is essential for those who wart to help them to know and understand their culture; to accept and respect the differences in culture and to remember that people of different cultures can add greatly to cur own. Thev reed help in unHerstarding our ways and how to use community facilities. r.ursery school facilities, well-r.ahy clinics, health carters, our child protection and r.nr-^upport facilities. But most of all they must have understanding and support in workirg out lives here for themselves. Caseworkers have learned from years of experience and from the feeling that they have developed about people, that the kind of help which they c�n use. is that which will enable them to work ! out their problems in their own way; they have learned that there is a cause and effect in human behavior.? which makea each person's situation different from thit of another. That people take only that advice which confirm* what they have already decided to do. If the caseworker understands the client, she respects him and is able to offer him enough support so that he can make the maximum use of his capacities and of his situation to gradually work out for himself the solution to his problem. A young immigrant couple were brought here by relatives, who, upon their arrival took them into their crowded flat. It was not long before quarrels and dissension ensued. The Steins felt that they had been completely dropped as soon as they had set foot on Canadian soil. They felt lost. Mr. Stein took out his disappointment and despair on his wife whom he beat up and threatened to desert. He represented his relatives as being deliberately cruel and as having misled them. People in the neighbourhood began to take sides and liberally gave their advice to the Steins, often conflicting advice. They told him that his solution was to apply for a loan from the Jewish Family and Child Service to go into a small business, any kind of business and so the Steins came to us with this request. The picture of this couple which our worker received from people in the community was confirmed by their behaviour when they first entered the office. They were demanding, aggressive, untruthful, berating, but what the worker saw underneath this behaviour was a deprived, frightened and completely bewildered couple, who did not know where or how to get started in an entirely strange setting. Although the man was demanding help at the top of his voice, he was actually afraid that in receiving it he would become forever obligated to the agency, that he would be less of a person for taking it To their great surprise they saw in the worker someone quite different from their relatives and their neighbours. Here was someone who did, not p'ass moral judgment on them � did not take over their lives-And impose plans on them. Instead; they found someone who listened intently, who understood their feelings, who recognized and helped them to talk of their great confusion and fear. In seeing that the worker looked upon them as people to be reckoned with, people whom she could respect and who could plan for themselves, they ceased to hate themselves and each other. They relaxed with her and began to make some real efforts. The worker gave them recognition for this and as they became less frightened, more hopeful and more realistic in their planning. In the space of two months, Mr. Stein took a job which was physically very hard on him and which he * would not have looked at when he first entered the agency. He managed his small salary and planned to provide essentials for his family, to repay to the agency the money advanced that had been made to him. From this disturbed, Salada Tea Bags are handy for afternoon tea SALADA TEA QAB5 and we want to correct them. That we must find the staff to provide better services for our aging population. That our family counselling services need to be extended. We look forward to participating in the Welfare Study Survey on Counselling agencies and to planning on the basis of its recommendations; through the J. S. S. A. and Congress to more clearly differentiating the funct- ions of the various agencies in the Jewish community. We must continue to assist the U. of T. School of Social Work in the training of caseworkers. Nothing has been more difficult in the past year than the recruitment of adequate staff. The extent to which the agency can be helpful rests upon the combined efforts of board and staff. Neither can be effective without the other. CONGREGATION TIFERETH ISRAEL 5390 ST. URBAIN STREET wish to announce that our LARGE MODERN HALL � JS AVAILABLE FOR � WEDDINGS � BAR-MITZVAHS � BANQUETS PARTIES � DANCES � MEETINGS � REASONABLE RATES � Mr. Deutsch � PL. 6671 Mr. Zeitz � CR. 0621 That's what I asked the Government Annuity representative. I was,trying to balance the family books at the time ancProtd him that, like most home-makers,I had so many places to spend my paychecks, my account was zero at the end of each month. But..... He showed me a simpte saving plan to provide an income in the future, that was as practical as a trip to the barber, and a plan which suited my budget. Before you say�'It's a good idea, but I just can't afford it1, talk it over with a CANADIAN GOVERNMENT ANNUITY representative, or write for informotion. I'm glad I did! Annu/t/'es Branch DEPARTMENT OF LABOUR HUMPHREY MITCHELL Mmnfer A. MacNAMARA Dtpvfy threatening, anifjpranting couple evolved a family "^nit which was working together and planfully to make a life for themselves ir. this country. There is no \ardstick for measuring a social agency's achievements. They are to be found in the extent to which each family ha> used the agency to strengthen its capacities for making a better life for itself. In planning for the coming year we have ir. mind: First that there is much we do no: kr.ow. that we make- mistake-- rtili Coupon tafoy POSTAOI FRH Broneh. D� port man* mf Labour, Ottawa. i�fwi mm COMPlETI INFORMATION about Can*dial C�w�m�fll Qualify Guarded rc~e t; cssj'e you of pure, jr rr;!ic and cther .e Dairies' * ACME FARMERS � Toronto, Ont. PRODUCERS DAIRY � Ottawa, Ont. ELMHURST DAIRY � Montreal, Que. * CRESCENT CREAMERY � Winnipeg, Man. ii