FamiliesChange.ca toolkit

The Health and Justice Alliance (HJA) was created in 2022 from an intersectoral dialogue that occurred between physicians, lawyers and others on the importance of collectively taking action to address the public health issue of the immediate, long-term and intergenerational impacts of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), including parental separation. Through input from parents and Indigenous and health expert advisory groups, the HJA developed six key messages to increase parents’ awareness of available strategies and support to reduce the potential negative impacts of parental separation on their children. In April 2025, these messages, each representing an important theme around parental separation, were launched in tandem with the updated FamiliesChange.ca website, a resource hub that supports families going through separation, developed by the Justice Education Society of British Columbia (JES) with support from the Department of Justice Canada and the BC Ministry of Justice.

To help share the key messages and resources that make up the ‘Parents’ section of the FamiliesChange.ca website, the HJA asked Finch Health Communications to support them in creating a toolkit to promote a grass roots initiative to be amplified by the many organizations in its network.

Leveraging the six key messages, the toolkit contained suggested social media posts and hashtags, graphics, template newsletter text, and information to support a seven-week awareness initiative. Posters and postcards were also created with a website QR code. Over the course of seven weeks, community organizations and partners were encouraged to help spread the word and link to the ‘Parents’ section on the FamiliesChange.ca website to show families navigating parental separation that they are not alone, and that there are free, practical resources available to help.