Name of Organization: Encircle Defence
Website of Organization: TBA – Under Construction
Organization’s Mandate: Parents who are caught in the child welfare system lack integrated, holistic support to help them address the issues that led to child welfare involvement and to position them to parent their children without state intervention. Encircle aims to provide child welfare involved parents with legal representation, support navigating social services, and peer support from parents who have gone through the system.
Project Name: Parent Support Models Research
Project Type: Research (memoranda used for internal purposes only)
Project Delivery: Virtual
Description of Project: Encircle Defence is committed to supporting parents involved in the child welfare system, many of whom face additional challenges such as housing precarity, job insecurity, and the trauma of domestic abuse. To fulfil this commitment, Encircle is looking to conduct research related to parent support involvement, which will then inform the Encircle Model for parent support. This research will focus on the legal and ethical aspects of peer support models in family law. This would entail reviewing current peer support models and exploring the legal constraints and best practices. This work will build on research that began in 2024-2025. The goal is to have research to allow the collective to move forward with including parent support in the Encircle model in an ethical and legal manner.
Role of Student Volunteers: The student volunteer will conduct research on peer support models and parent support involvement in family law. The student will build on initial research conducted by Encircle Defence and research the legal and ethical aspects of peer support models in family law. This would entail reviewing current peer support models and exploring the legal constraints and best practices. The student will draft a memo summarizing their research.
Role of Supervising Lawyer(s): The supervising lawyer will provide guidance and mentorship to the students in addition to reviewing the student’s work and giving timely feedback. The supervising layer will review and give feedback on all work before use by the organization.
Type of Law: Family law, child welfare law.
Main Project Deliverable: Creating produced content (e.g. research memos, brochures, podcasts, etc.)
Number of Student Placements: 1 student
Hours per week the student volunteer(s) will be expected to work: 3-5 hours/week
Regular shifts or a flexible schedule: Flexible.
Is there a workspace provided for the student at the Organization: No
Devices and technologies the students will be required to have: Computer, Internet access, telephone, Zoom
Is there an expectation for the student(s) to be bilingual: No
Law School Pre-Requisites: N/A
Other Requirements or Expectations: N/A