The launch event participants included a BC Provincial Court Judge, and a Nanaimo participant.

Six Victorians are on the Launch Roster list and now available to be called upon to conduct non-evaluative child interviews:

• Trudi Brown
• Kay Melbye
• Crystal Buchan
• Mary Mouat
• Bobbi Poushinsky
• Eugene Raponi

The non-evaluative child interview has been a valuable tool for those who have used it to date.  A couple of examples that were shared:

• the non-evaluative interview served as an ”ice-breaker” in re-establishing relationships between a child, father and grandparent that was a critical event in the grandparent’s life as relayed on his death bed; and
• the mere act of listening to a child in a dispute can make a positive difference to the child’s well-being as attested to by a parent who made a point of calling the child interviewer after the proceeding to relay this message.

Situations where it may not be appropriate to interview a child are where the child is too young, or when the issue in dispute between the parties does not affect the child.

There was some great discussion about the Roster and how it will work.  One participant asked, “how can we make sure there is the perception of neutrality when dealing with lay litigant cases?  For example, is there some arrangement to pay the chlid interviewer’s fees into court, and then the  court can pay the interviewer so the interviewer does not know which party paid for the child’s interview?”.   Another idea is for a Roster member from a different firm who is not acting as the interviewer to receive the funds “in trust” for the child interviewer so the interviewer does not know who paid for the interview.

The BC Hear the Child Society Roster of child interviewers is a complement to the services provided by the Province’s Family Justice Counsellors.  For those who have the ability to pay for this service, non-evaluative child interviews and reports can be completed as quickly as a few days.  It was estimated that interviewing one child can cost anywhere between $500 and $1000.

The Society is beginning with the Launch Roster to get things up and running.  An application will be available on the Society’s website sometime in June for others who are interested in joining the Roster.  Successful applicants will be added on a rolling basis.    A Victoria practice group will be established to continue to share and develop the practice.

A recent BC Court of Appeal decision was raised at the session: Stav v. Stav, 2012 BCCA 154 (CanLII) also available at: http://canlii.ca/t/fqvv9. The case involved mobility and addressed the views of a 14 year old boy, collected through a private non-evaluative child interviewer in Vancouver.

Thank you to all who helped celebrate the launch of the Society’s Child Interviewer Roster in Victoria!

We are delighted to announce that the BC Hear the Child Society will launch its Roster of qualified Child Interviewers in May, 2012.

One of the messages we heard loud and clear from recent feedback is the desire to get qualified child interviewer Roster launched quickly.   So, we are beginning the Roster with a core group of Launch Roster members who meet the criteria recently established by the Society and are already doing non-evaluative child interviews.  Join us at one of the four upcoming launch events:

Victoria, Thursday, May 10, 4 – 7 pm, Brown Henderson Melbye

If you wish to attend one or more of our events please RSVP to Renee Lorme-Gulbrandsen at rlgiicrd@uvic.ca. For further information about the Roster visit www.hearthechild.ca/roster.

Sometimes young people want to speak directly to a judge in family law cases.  With this in mind, in 2010 Suzanne Williams from IICRD and an advisor to the BC Hear the Child Society surveyed judges from 11 jurisdictions for the National Judicial Institute (NJI) on guidelines and practices in use.  The paper was presented at the NJI Family Law Program in 2010 and was included in materials at the Law Society of Upper Canada’s Views of the Child session in 2010 chaired by Justice Czutrin, and the 2011 Meaningful Child Participation Course in BC hosted by CLEBC, IICRD and the Society.  Judge Boshier from New Zealand presented at the session and shared the practice guideline that the New Zealand judges have been using.  The work in Ontario is definitely something to keep an eye on as we may be able to both learn and share some good practices applicable to all child interviews in family law.

This article examines how children’s voices can be heard in Family Court hearings when there are allegations of child sexual abuse.

Using a case study approach, three judgements are examined to see how judicial determination centralised the information from and about children. In these three purposively selected cases the voices of children was identified from conflicting evidence presented by professional assessors and counsellors. These three cases were selected because of the primacy given to evidence that was presented from and about children. In these cases allegations were not assumed to be artifacts of a parental dispute, instead, the Judge who heard them worked actively to discern the child’s voice within the conflicting evidence. Further, these three cases were also distinguished by the range of evidence available that included family reports and assessments from professionals as a result of Court Orders, but also evidence from those who had ongoing involvement with the children in counseling roles.

These counsellors were located outside the Family Court, in the child protection sector. The evidence from counsellors was preferred by the Judge as it provided a higher level of detail about the children and their allegations.

The ‘voice of the child’ was constructed by the Judge in their interpretation of professional evidence.

Foote (2011)- Children in law proceedings

While the new law is a step in the right direction, resources are needed to actually implement its intent, consistent with the rights of all BC children.   For example, while the Province currently funds 7 family justice counsellors to listen to children and complete “Views of the Child Reports”, this service does not reach every child in BC and there is a waiting time of 2 – 9 months from the time an order is made to the time the Report is in hand.  The BC Hear the Child Society is working with the International Institute for Child Rights and Development with funding from the Vancouver Foundation that helps educate and train justice professionals to listen to children and address this gap.

Below is the proposed provision relating to best interests of the child.

Division 1 — Best Interests of Child

Best interests of child

37  (1) In making an agreement or order under this Part respecting guardianship, parenting arrangements or contact with a child, the parties and the court must consider the best interests of the child only.

(2) To determine what is in the best interests of a child, all of the child’s needs and circumstances must be considered, including the following:

(a) the child’s health and emotional well-being;

(b) the child’s views, unless it would be inappropriate to consider them;

(c) the nature and strength of the relationships between the child and significant persons in the child’s life;

(d) the history of the child’s care;

(e) the child’s need for stability, given the child’s age and stage of development;

(f) the ability of each person who is a guardian or seeks guardianship of the child, or who has or seeks parental responsibilities, parenting time or contact with the child, to exercise his or her responsibilities;

(g) the impact of any family violence on the child’s safety, security or well-being, whether the family violence is directed toward the child or another family member;

(h) whether the actions of a person responsible for family violence indicate that the person may be impaired in his or her ability to care for the child and meet the child’s needs;

(i) the appropriateness of an arrangement that would require the child’s guardians to cooperate on issues affecting the child, including whether requiring cooperation would increase any risks to the safety, security or well-being of the child or other family members;

(j) any civil or criminal proceeding relevant to the child’s safety, security or well-being.

(3) An agreement or order is not in the best interests of a child unless it protects, to the greatest extent possible, the child’s physical, psychological and emotional safety, security and well-being.

(4) In making an order under this Part, a court may consider a person’s conduct only if it substantially affects a factor set out in subsection (2), and only to the extent that it affects that factor.

Recent legal developments make it clear that children have a right to have their views heard when their best interests are determined in family law decisions.   “It’s no longer about whether to hear from children but rather, how to best hear from children” said David Dundee who together with Trudi Brown presented the law underpinning a child’s right to participate.   Options to hear from children were highlighted on Day 1 of the program including “hear the child” interviews that are privately funded, “views of the child” reports that are completed by a family justice counsellor and paid for by the Province, expert s. 15 reports prepared by a psychologist, and a mediator listening to children’s views and bringing them into the mediation.  Judge Gallagher from the BC Provincial Court noted how helpful it is for judges to have someone else listen to the child and bring forward their views for consideration when the court decides the best interests of the child.

Renowned expert, Dr. Joan Kelly, led Day 2 that focused on skills required to interview children.  She outlined the recent research base and emphasized the importance of providing information to children about what is going on, “the more appropriate information you have in a crisis the better you cope with it”.   Dr. Kelly led the group through the 6 stage interview process and a series of experiential activities.

Thank you to all who contributed time to present or participate!  This was the 3rd bi-annual CLEBC-IICRD Child Participation program and we look forward to the 4th in 2013.

Read the full article.