AFCC Ontario Events

A joint presentation of AFCC-O and Simcoe County Law Association

Presenters
Professor Nicholas Bala, Faculty of Law, Queen’s University
Justice Andrea Himel, SCJ, Newmarket
Deborah Alton, Reflection Centre

Moderator
Ashley H. McInnis, B.A., LL.B. Stewart, Esten LLP

Eligible for 1.5 hours substantive credit

Presenters

Justice Freya Kristjanson, Superior Court of Justice

Caterina Tempesta, Senior Counsel, Office of the Children’s Lawyer

Anamika Baijnath, MSW, RSW, Senior Policy Analyst, Ontario Association of Social Workers

It has been 30 years since Canada ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), the most widely ratified international human rights treaty in history.  Many of its core principles are applicable in the family law context, and compel us to shift our approach to providing services to children and families, viewing children as rights-holders and not merely passive subjects of decision-making.  Our panelists will:

• review key aspects of the UNCRC and its status in Canadian law;

• focusing on the child’s right to freely express views, discuss ways to promote children’s meaningful participation in family law matters;

• discuss other aspects of family law that engage children’s rights, such as issues of privacy and consent;

• suggest how family justice participants can usefully approach challenging family law cases by applying a children’s rights lens;

• explore how professionals working with children can build a child-centred, rights- based practice, and empower children and youth to participate in decisions about their lives and their care arrangements; and

• offer practical suggestions for counsel on how to use the UNCRC as an effective advocacy tool

This program contains 15 minutes of Professionalism Content and one hour and fifteen minutes of Substantive Content.

 a joint presentation of AFCC-O and York Region Law Association

Eligible for 1.5 hours of substantive credit

Speakers

Professor Nicholas Bala
Archana Medhekar
Aaron Franks

Moderators

Dr. Shely Polak
Justice Andrea Himel

The parenting provisions of Canada’s Divorce Act (Bill C-78) and Ontario’s Children’s Law Reform Act (Bill 207) are being amended, with new provisions in effect as of March 1, 2021. The reforms introduce new parenting terminology, and encourage the use of parenting plans and non-court family dispute resolution. The new laws include provisions to better recognize family violence and better address parental relocation. The reforms have significant implications for all who work in the family justice field, as they are intended to affect both practice in the courts and the “culture of divorce”

Our esteemed panel will share their opinions in response to the following questions:

• Will the legislative changes have a significant impact family law professionals and our clients?
• How can we reconcile parenting plans with the Court’s duty to make “orders”?
• What factors may be most significant in relocation cases?
• Will it be more/less difficult for parents to relocate – within Ontario, nationally, internationally?
• How will domestic violence considerations affect outcomes?
• What is the role for family law professionals in identifying and responding to risk?

Presented by

AFCC-O

and

York Region Law Association

Presenters

Maxine M. Kerr, Family Law & Mediation, Aurora, AFCC-O Secretary

Dr. Shely Polak, PhD (Social Work), York Region, AFCC-O President

Chair and Presenter

Justice Andrea Himel, Superior Court of Justice, Family Branch (Newmarket)

Technical Support

Vicky Ringuette, Lawyer, Mediator & Coach, Hamilton

Program Description

We will explore the following questions as they relate to difficult client positions:

• How can family lawyers and mediators support clients to move from unreasonable to reasonable positions?
• In the context of child protection matters, how to respond when the Society, the parents and/or kin adopt difficult positions respecting placement and/or access?
• What are the three steps to successful advocacy and dispute resolution? How do we measure success?
• To what extent are the children’s best interests, as well as their views and wishes, relevant to their parents’ positions in the dispute?
• When are social science articles and education materials of assistance?
• How will clients be impacted by the upcoming Divorce Act amendments?
• What is the role of concessions and mandated reasonableness?
• Are there best (or at least better) responses to the following case scenarios:
  • Unmarried co-parents of a baby
  • 60/40 cases – Addressing the elephant in the room (time vs. child support)
  • A request to relocate at the initial application or motion to change stage;
• Covid-19 – Is this the ultimate test of reasonable/unreasonable behaviour?

Lawyers can count 1.5 hours CPD

Cost
Members of AFCC-O Chapter and YRLA: Free
Non-Members: $25

This year’s AFCC-O Chapter Social is from the comfort of your own home. On Thursday October 15, 2020 from 5 PM to 6:30 PM please join us to network, socialize and connect while we talk about and support one another on how people are grappling with family law in a COVID-19 world.  It is an opportunity for lawyers, judges, mental health professionals, mediators from all over our province to meet and discuss the impact of COVID-19.

We will be offering three breakout room options for people to discuss challenges and strategies and information on practicing family law in a pandemic, facilitated by leaders in the field. We hope you can join us for some socializing and discussion virtual style: BYOB this year, of course! So grab a snack, a drink, and come meet some colleagues and friends.

Agenda

Group Networking Activity

Self-Directed Visits to Breakout Rooms

1. Impact on Court Proceedings: facilitated by Justice Phil Clay, Justice Andrea Himel, and Archana Medhekar

2. Impact on Arbitration/Mediation Processes: facilitated by Aaron Franks, Jennifer Suzor, and Christine Kim

3. Impact on Therapeutic and Assessment Activities: facilitated by Dr. Kim Harris, Andrea Barclay and Andrea Jones.

Participants can remain in the same breakout room for the duration of the evening, or move to another room(s) to join a different conversation. Upon registration, attendees will be asked to indicate the room in which they wish to BEGIN the evening. 

Canadian jurisprudence over the last 30 years contains a wealth of information with respect to the use of psychological testing in family law cases. On the surface, the personality characteristics and psychological functioning of parents may appear as insignificant factors in how parenting cases should be decided. However, when psychological testing is utilized as part of a comprehensive assessment, it can demonstrate that the personality characteristics and psychological functioning of an individual can have significant, if not profound implications in relation to their ability to parent and meet the needs of their children.

When used correctly, psychological testing can form an integral component of a parenting assessment. However, when accepted principles and methodologies are overlooked or ignored, the consequences can be quite unfortunate.

The objective of this presentation is to describe the most commonly used psychological tests, summarize the type of information the tests provide, review the methodology of how the test results form part of the evidence, and elaborate on how judges incorporate the psychological test results as part of their decision-making process.

Additionally, the presentation will provide the attendees a set of guidelines useful for family law lawyers, mediators, judges and mental health professionals when psychological tests are used in a parenting capacity report or assessment. These guidelines incorporate the methodology and application of psychological testing as they relate to issues of evidence in family law.

Presenters:

David Frenkel is a senior lawyer at the Halpern Law Group.  He practices exclusively in the area of family law with a keen interest in psychology topics intersecting the law.  Although technically a litigator, David looks for creative ways to settle family law disputes in an amicable and holistic manner.  His legal writings and opinions can be found on his personal website,www.frenkelfamilylaw.com.

Dr. Irwin Butkowsky’s current practice specializes in the area of marital separation, divorce and family breakdown.  In this regard, he provides marital and separation counselling, individual counselling and psychotherapy for adolescents and adults, play therapy for children, family mediation focused on the development of appropriate parenting arrangements in the post-separation period, comprehensive custody and access assessments and parenting coordination. .  Dr. Butkowsky has had extensive involvement in the assessment and mediation of custody and access disputes since 1981.  To date, Dr. Butkowsky has conducted in excess of 650 custody and access assessments and more than 250 mediations.  He has been in full-time private practice since September of 1986.

Moderator:

Dr. Shely Polak