Family Fuse: Free programming providing ‘armour’ for Black parents navigating the school system

Andrew Maisonville, middle, felt unheard and disrespected in the education system, advocating for his son Julius, left, until he learned of Family Fuse. (Source: Andrew Maisonville)

An organization helping Black parents navigate the education system says it has helped hundreds of families since its creation in 2021.

Based in Windsor, Family Fuse offers free coaching workshops and advocacy to support Black families in thriving within the education system.

For Andrew Maisonville, a single father from Windsor, there were times he felt viewed as “an angry black man” while trying to advocate for his son Julius.

Julius, 18, has autism and has battled through health issues.

After an incident on a school bus, Maisonville said he had to find a new way for his son to get to school, but he wasn’t able to get an answer as to what happened.

“We were never able to get any information about the incident, and so I was left with no answers,” Maisonville said.

When in school, Masonville said his son was on a “special schedule” that left him feeling like Julius wasn’t given the same opportunities to be a kid.

“Whether it’s true or not, I felt like my son was being treated differently and unfairly and discriminated against,” he said.

Often, Maisonville said he passed up opportunities to work so he could care for his son, who wasn’t going to school.

A loss of faith and trust in the system continued until Maisonville learned of Family Fuse.

“I walked in there feeling like I was less than, into the school meetings, but when I had Nicole with me from Family Fuse, I felt like I had the armour that most parents don’t feel like they have in there,” Masonville added.

After school meetings with members of Family Fuse present, Maisonville felt he was receiving more “respect” and the added insight “restores order with the parents and the school.”

“So, it’s kind of like I walked away from the last meeting respecting the load that’s on the school staff, and also they walked away, [saying] ‘Hey, we got this. We need to fix this,’” he said.

Maisonville’s challenges aren’t unusual, according to Christie Nelson, the program manager for Family Fuse.

Since 2021, they’ve supported 500 different parents and guardians and over 1,200 children.

“What it comes down to is making sure that everybody’s getting equitable access to the Ontario public school system, making sure that our youth are thriving just as well as anybody else,” Nelson said.

Family Fuse helps in navigating policies, helping families with Individual Education Plans, and working through communication challenges.

“We’ve been the ones in the room where we feel isolated, alone, and not knowing what the policies are, not knowing who to turn to, and now we are those individuals who parents can turn to,” she said.

Nelson said their programming also includes offerings that help build the community.

On Wednesday, Family Fuse recognized previous funding from the Ontario Trillium Fund that’s helped expand their services to meet more families in Windsor-Essex.

In their final year of funding, Nelson said they’re hopeful their work, which has spanned across the country, will be noticed, and a new funding agreement will be formed.

“I always say like, the best-case scenario is that we don’t exist, but the simple fact is that there are issues and barriers to success for our Black families, we do exist,” Nelson said.

“So, when we’re helping our families, we’re helping community, we’re helping our province, and we’re helping our country, and so for that, these services need to be free, ongoing.”

As for parents and families hesitant to reach out to Family Fuse for the first time, Maisonville recommended taking the leap.

“Like, I was knocked into a totally different life, and I had to juggle and figure out what to do next, and Family Fuse gave me that door,” he said.