The Child-centred Family Law Strategy,
Summative Evaluation

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

1. Introduction

The Child-centred Family Justice Strategy[1] (CCFLS or the Strategy) is a five-year initiative introduced in 2003 and scheduled to sunset March 31, 2008. Over the past two decades, several successive initiatives were launched by the Department of Justice in the area of family law that were designed to assist and work in collaboration with the provinces/territories in creating and enhancing family law policies and services. The CCFLS represents ongoing efforts in this area and builds on experiences and successes of preceding programs and initiatives.

The broad policy objective of the Strategy is to help develop and maintain a child-centered family justice system that:

Family law in Canada is an area of shared jurisdiction between the federal and provincial/territorial governments. The Strategy is implemented by the Family, Children and Youth (FCY) Section of the Department of Justice through seven units that work collaboratively to support the CCFLS. The FCY Section is responsible for legislative reform and administration of the Child-centred Family Justice Fund (CCFJF), while the provinces/territories are responsible for family law matters other than divorce and property, and design and delivery of family justice services are within their respective jurisdictions.

The FCY Section has five main areas of activity to support the Strategy, including:

In order to meet Treasury Board Secretariat requirements, the FCY Section was to complete a summative evaluation of the CCFLS. The evaluation relied on multiple lines of evidence, both quantitative and qualitative, including surveys, interviews and focus groups as well as existing data sources, documentation and literature. The following presents the key highlights of the results of the Summative Evaluation of the CCFLS conducted in 2007 on behalf of the Department of Justice.

2. Relevance

The three broad objectives of the CCFLS continue to be relevant, although there are emergent areas that require better understanding and/or support.

The objectives stated above are important to maintaining an accessible and client-centred family justice system in Canada, although how the objectives are attained may change to reflect changes in the issues facing separating or divorcing families. In general, Canadian families have become less stable with married couples separating or divorcing earlier and common-law relationships, which tend to be shorter in duration than marriages, becoming more prevalent.[3] According to the 2006 census, the number of common-law-couple families increased more than five times faster than married-couple families when compared to previous census results.[4] Between 2001 and 2006, approximately 2.0 million Canadians ended a marriage or common-law relationship.[5]

Recently, discussions in the media and academic journals revolving around the best interest of the child principle have increasingly included adoption cases and same-sex couples as parents, as well as the higher number of custody decisions where judges award joint custody in terms of legal decision-making.[6] Increasing cultural representation within Canadian society as well as families with blended cultural backgrounds creates additional pressures on the family justice system in terms of resolution. These situations, among others, were noted by members of the judiciary as being factors that can further complicate the issues faced by separating families.

Families, therefore, require assistance and services to assist them in addressing the more complicated issues involved in the process of separation and divorce in order to minimize the negative impact on their children. Key areas identified by family law professionals that require attention are custody and access, relocation/mobility and spousal support. The federal government has a legitimate and necessary role as a leader and coordinator in developing and maintaining a national perspective towards family justice.

Family law, like other areas of law, is divided between the federal and provincial/territorial jurisdictions. Therefore, an important element of the Strategy has been the collaboration between the provinces/territories and the federal Department of Justice in a number of different areas. The provinces/territories rely on the federal government as a coordinator and leader in family justice activities in order to develop a national perspective on family law and ensure that family justice services are available to all Canadians in all provinces and territories.

The federal government is also seen as having an important leadership role in the area of support enforcement, both nationally and internationally. In terms of support enforcement activities, the federal government has been a leader nationally in assisting the provinces/territories in developing and expanding their own support enforcement systems, as well as internationally in developing a new Hague Convention on family maintenance matters and establishing of new bilateral partnerships with other states.

3. Program Design and Delivery

A key element of the Strategy was the continuation, development and expansion of a number of collaborative partnerships.

The Strategy was built on successes and experiences of four preceding family law initiatives that have been implemented over the past two decades. A key strength of the Strategy noted by several federal and provincial/territorial representatives was the ability to use and build on existing collaborative partnerships among the federal government, the provinces/territories, non-governmental partners as well as international partners.

The Coordinating Committee of Senior Officials – Family Justice (CCSO-FJ) and its sub-committees help support the achievement of the objectives of the CCFLS by acting as the forum where discussions can take place and issues can be resolved. In addition, the Department of Justice works in close collaboration with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) with regard to support enforcement activities. Other less formal relationships noted by Department of Justice officials included the good working relationship with the Canadian Bar Association and with the judiciary. Partnerships with community organizations have been established to deliver family law information sessions and programs.

Enhanced and expanded communication structures, and new or expanded partnerships were also identified by FCY Section staff as legacies that would continue after the sunsetting of the CCFLS in 2008.

The Performance Measurement and Evaluation Strategy continues to be problematic in terms of provincial/territorial reporting.

Despite improvements in performance measurement and reporting activities by the provinces/territories, gaps in available information indicate that there continues to be room for improvements. Data collection and reporting activities need to be simplified and streamlined in order to allow for the collection of complete and meaningful data. Efforts to improve the quality of performance data are currently underway. It should be noted that extensive performance measurement and evaluation activities were newly introduced requirements by the Treasury Board Secretariat at the inception of the Strategy.

4. Achievement of Objectives

Parent education and parenting plans are useful tools to help parents understand and focus on the children's needs during and after separation/divorce and to promote the use of the Best Interests of the Child (BIC) criteria.

Results of the client follow-up survey completed as part of the summative evaluation indicate that parents who participated in parent education programs were more aware of their children's needs during separation/divorce (83.6%), had a better understanding of a child-focused approach to resolving issues (78.5%) and improved their awareness of how to make child-focused decisions (75.2%). Lawyers and members of the judiciary as well as secondary sources indicate that parents and children seem to benefit from the services and tools through enhanced knowledge/familiarity. Although not legislated, there is evidence that issues reflected in the proposed BIC criteria are increasingly considered in family justice services as well as in court decisions. Court file data indicates that in 83% of cases, one or more of the issues reflected in the proposed BIC criteria were relevant during the hearings.

The Federal Child Support Guidelines continue to help create consistency in child support arrangements and need to be reviewed regularly.

The Federal Child Support Guidelines have been identified by informants as one of the most important tools in eliminating subjectivity in decisions surrounding child support. The Guidelines as well as numerous education and information materials associated with them have helped Canadian families and family law professionals in determining appropriate levels of child support in a consistent and accepted manner. In general, family justice services supported through the CCFLS continue to expand and are effective in helping families resolve issues without going to court.

In general, the CCFLS has been successful in supporting a move towards collaborative and less adversarial family law processes.

There has been an expansion of family justice services offered by the provinces/territories over the course of the CCFLS. Provincial/territorial reports indicate that, from 2003/04 to 2006/07, 71 provincial/territorial family justice services were expanded, 32 new ones were introduced and 176 were maintained.

Overall, it was noted that services like mediation and parent education are useful and important tools in assisting parents to recognize the needs of their children and minimize the negative impact of separation and divorce on the children. However, due to the increased complexity of family arrangements and the number of self-representing clients, pressure to require resolution through judicial decision continues. Furthermore, family law professionals interviewed stressed that in high-conflict situations, court intervention is still needed and should be initiated as soon as possible in order to minimize negative impact on children.