Family justice reform
In 1994, the Ministry of Attorney General started a number of projects to make the family justice system more responsive to the needs of families, and to reduce the number of families going through the often difficult and lengthy court process.
These projects included:
- establishing four pilot Family Justice Centres staffed by family justice counsellors, specially trained to help families with child custody, guardianship, access and support issues
- developing the Parenting After Separation educational program for parents, intended to help parents make careful and informed decisions about their separation and to ensure that these decisions take into account the best interests of their children
- establishing Supervised Access Centres in three of the four pilot Family Justice Centres to provide places where children can spend time with the parent who does not have custody, with another adult present to supervise
- improving coordination among related services, including victim assistance programs, legal aid and the Family Maintenance Enforcement Program, and
- improving the enforcement of court orders - specifically family support orders and protection orders - to ensure more parents pay the support they owe and greater safety for families.
Today, a network of Family Justice Centres operates across the province to provide services to British Columbians going though separation or divorce. (For more information, please see our section on family justice counsellors.)
Parenting After Separation, which started as a pilot project in four locations, has been expanded to most communities across the province and is now required in many larger communities before parents can go to the Provincial Court to obtain or change a child support, custody, guardianship or access order. (Our section on Parenting After Separation explains where and when the session is mandatory.)
The Ministry also:
- Established the Dispute Resolution Office in 1996 to encourage and support mediation and alternate dispute resolution services across government and in the courts.
- Set up the Family Justice Registry Project in 1998 to inform parents that court is not the only option for settling child custody, guardianship, access and support issues, and that they have the right to choose the best option for themselves and their children. As part of this pilot project, anyone applying to obtain or change a child custody, guardianship, access or support order at the Vancouver (Robson Square), Surrey, or Kelowna Courthouses must meet with a family justice counsellor and may have to attend a Parenting After Separation session before they can continue with the court process. (Please see If You Go to Provincial Court for more information.)
- Launched the Comprehensive Child Support Service Pilot Project in Kelowna in 2002 to test methods for reducing the time it takes to obtain or change child support orders and agreements. As part of this project, a Child Support Officer helps parents understand the child support guidelines and calculate what they are entitled to receive or must pay under those guidelines. If both parents agree, the Child Support Officer will work with the parents to negotiate a child support amount. The officer will also refer parents to other professionals associated with the pilot project as appropriate, such as an outreach worker from the Family Maintenance Enforcement Program or a family justice counsellor, or to other programs and services, such as Parenting After Separation, financial management, legal advice and debt counselling.
