Single Event

Hear from counsel directly involved in this landmark case as they offer their insights and tips (including for draft orders) and they consider the potential implications for developments in the law.

This event qualifies for 1 hour, 30 minutes of substantive content.

We are pleased to welcome Maureen Bulbrook, Victims and Vulnerable Persons counsel from the Office of the Children’s Lawyer, for a presentation about Sec.90(2) Identification Orders and the importance of the FNIM identification, as well as the Act Respecting FNIM Children Youth and Families.

Discussion points will include:

• the need to make the finding asap,
• what efforts the court should expect of the CAS to help the families/child locate a FNIM community,
• the importance of the CAS to ensure paragraph 9 of their POC contains information as to how the CAS will keep the child connected or reconnect to the child’s FNIM community, and
• the requirement of a cultural safety plan.

This event was accredited for 1 hour EDI professionalism content. 

Child Custody Evaluations, Parental Responsibilities Evaluations, Best Interest Evaluations, Custody and Access Evaluations, Parenting Time Evaluations, or similar terms are used to describe important evaluations utilized in family law cases. Learn about the Parenting Plan Evaluation Guidelines and how they address the processes by which mental health professionals gather and evaluate relevant information about the family and formulate and communicate opinions that relate to the task of developing parenting plans and related court orders.

Learn from two Task force members how these Guidelines provide important practice guidance for this specialized type of forensic evaluation.

Guidelines for Parenting Plan Evaluations in Family Law Cases

Presenters:
Brian Burke, LLB
Andrea Jones, MSW, RSW

Deadline to Register: November 28th at 8:00 a.m.

Webinar access link and any handouts will be sent to registrants the day of the event. 

Expert Evidence: Effective Examination and Cross-Examination of a Mental Health Professional in a Relocation Case

Watch and learn from the dynamic duo of Julie Hannaford and Martha McCarthy and the experienced expert witness, Dan Ashbourne.  The process for having a mental health professional declared an expert will be reviewed and the strengths and weaknesses of the expert’s report will be critiqued throughout the mock trial.

Legal professionals will learn techniques to conduct an examination in chief and cross examination.

Mental health professionals will learn how to give evidence consistent with the scope of their expertise.

The Honourable Justice Heather McGee will preside to keep order in the Court!

This session will be held from 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Registration deadline: October 10, 2022

The Annual Conference will be held in Toronto at the Toronto Reference Library on Friday, October 14^th (in-person & virtually).

The Pre-Conference Institute will be held October 13^th in Toronto at The Advocates Society.

Take advantage of an Early Bird rate by registering before July 31^st.

This year, a panel of experienced family law and mental health professionals will explore a variety of topics “From the Child’s Perspective”.

KEYNOTE SPEAKER: SAMRA ZAFAR
Samra Zafar is an award-winning international speaker, bestselling author, consultant, educator, and entrepreneur who advocates for gender equity, inclusion, and human rights. Her international bestseller, A Good Wife: Escaping The Life I Never Chose, depicts her experience as a child bride and how she escaped years of abuse to become one of the Top 100 Most Powerful Women in Canada.

OTHER SESSIONS include: Disclosure of Children’s Counselling Notes, Gender Non-Conforming Children’s Experience of Family Court, Openness Post-Adoption, Evidence of Culture in Family and Child Protection Proceedings, as well as testimonials from youth and young adults who have been involved in family court proceedings or raised in care.

Final Registration Deadline: October 10th, 2022

Registrants will have the option to select in-person or virtual attendance. Please note your attendance selection CANNOT be changed after September 30.

Cancellation Policy:
Cancellations will be accepted until September 30, 2022 minus a $50 administration fee. After September 30, registrations may be transferred to another individual for the original attendance type only (i.e. in-person, virtual).

Visit the Annual Conference webpage for full details of the event

Order in the Court!

The Honourable Justice Heather McGee will preside over this year’s

Pre-Conference Institute

October 13, 2022
2:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
The Advocates Society
250 Yonge Street, Suite 2700, Toronto

Members must be logged in to view and access member registration. 

For many lawyers who work in child protection, they are aware of openness orders but lack experience in litigation after the final extended care order is made. Their parent clients may have heard of openness and have unrealistic expectations of contact if and when an adoption occurs. The panel will explain the legal framework for Openness Applications and Openness Orders. It will share best practices for drafting of final extended care orders that include access and for advising parent clients. It will also clarify the adoption process, the potential role of mediation and the role of the child’s counsel in initiating Openness Applications.

Panelists:
Martha Chamberlain (Chamberlain Family Law)
Maggie Hall (Mediation North)
Ferdinand Herrera (CAS Toronto)
Justice Heather-Ann Mendes (Ontario Court of Justice)

Registration Deadline: June 20 @ 6:00 p.m.

The webinar access link and any program materials will be distributed within 24 hours of the webinar.

Justice Andrea Himel, Superior Court of Justice (Newmarket), Justice Marvin Kurz and Justice Kendra Coats, Superior Court of Justice (Milton) invite Ontario family law lawyers and law students to an engaging discussion about common missteps and oversteps to avoid at Court.

The session will include a broad range of mistakes including: procedural errors, misstating the facts or the law, unreasonableness, problematic written materials and more. Justices Himel, Coats and Kurz will explore the reasons behind the “rules” and “expectations” at court. Tips and strategies to improve effective oral and written advocacy will be shared with attendees.

In addition to this tip sheet, further resource materials will be provided.

Registration will remain open until the capacity limit is reached, or until April 6 at 5:00.

The webinar access link will be distributed the day prior to the event. 

We are grateful to AFCC Ontario Chapter (Maxine Kerr and Carolyn Leach, co-presidents) for hosting the webinar.