Research and Reports
2001

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Additional research reports on issues related to families and children can be found on the Research and Statistics Web Site.

Federal-Provincial-Territorial Consultations on Custody, Access and Child Support in Canada

Working together, federal, provincial and territorial governments initiated a consultation process in April 2001 to give Canadians the opportunity to share their views with governments on custody, access and child support issues. (November 2001)

• Consultation Document (PDF (313kB) PDF Help)
• Executive Summary of the report (PDF (238kB) PDF Help)
• Full Report (PDF (3.9MB), PDF Help)
  
  

Licence Suspension and Denial: Overview of a New Mechanism for Child Support Enforcement (PDF (277 KB), PDF Help) (CSR-2001-1E) by Sharon Moyer.

This report examines the various licence denial and suspension programs in place across the United States and Canada that encourage compliance with child support orders. The types of licences examined for the study include drivers' licences, occupational licences and passports. (September 2001)

An Analysis of Options for Changes in the Legal Regulation of Child Custody and Access (PDF (818KB), PDF Help) (2001-FCY-2E) by Brenda Cossman.

Separation and divorce are tumultuous for children, as their parents struggle to restructure their parenting relationship. Legal conflicts over parenting arrangements can be protracted and bitter. Increasing public attention has been directed to the question of whether the current legal regime is up to the task of facilitating the restructuring of parental relationships following separation and divorce in a way that promotes the best interests of children.  The objective of this research paper is to evaluate three options for reform. Option one works within the current language of custody and access. Option two proposes a neutral model of parenting responsibility and parenting orders. Option three is based on a model of shared parenting. (August 2001)

Overview and Assessment of Approaches to Access Enforcement (PDF (584KB), PDF Help) (2001-FCY-8E) by Dr. Martha Bailey.

The purpose of this project was to produce a comparative review of legal approaches to the problem of enforcement of access orders, and to investigate and analyze Canadian case law and legislation. (August 2001)

The Early Identification and Streaming of Cases of High Conflict Separation and Divorce: A Review (PDF (273KB), PDF Help) (2001-FCY-7E) by Ron Stewart, MSW.

This paper, based on a comprehensive review of the literature, plus a series of interviews with clinicians and researchers who work with divorced families, identifies a series of risk factors that contribute to negative outcomes for many children whose parents separate and divorce. One of the risk factors for children frequently identified in studies of divorce is increased or high conflict between parents. This review summarizes the difficulties found in many other studies that try to clearly define high conflict divorces. Despite these difficulties, the research review identifies the behavioural, emotional and environmental factors most frequently connected with high conflict divorce. (July 2001)

The Survey of Child Support Awards: Interim Analysis of Phase 2 Data (October 1998 to March 2000) (PDF (2.77 MB) PDF Help) (CSR-2001-2E) by Lorne D. Bertrand, PhD et al.

This interim report summarizes the findings of phase 2 of this project, which began in the fall of 1998. The report is divided into two parts. Part 1 describes the processing of divorce cases involving child support orders, and documents issues related to the process at different sites involved in the project. Part 2 presents the results of the analysis of the data collected from the fall of 1998 through March 16, 2000. (July 2001)

Allegations of Child Abuse in the Context of Parental Separation:A Discussion Paper (PDF (465KB) PDF Help ) (2001-FCY-4E) by Nicolas M.C. Bala et al.

The tension, hostility and challenges that arise when parents separate are inevitably heightened if there are allegations of child abuse. If the allegations are true, the child and a supportive parent will suffer; if those allegations are improperly dismissed by the courts as unfounded, the consequences for a child and a supporting parent can be devastating. An unfounded allegation can also have very damaging consequences for a child and the wrongly accused parent. This paper reviews what is known about these very difficult cases, and how our legal and social service systems try to achieve a balance between the various rights and interests that arise. (June 2001)

Post-Separation Visitation Disputes: Differential Interventions (PDF (843KB) PDF Help ) (2001-FCY-6) by Rachel Birnbaum and Willson McTavish.

Visitation is a highly contentious issue in separation and divorce. When it is brought before the court for resolution, mental health professionals are engaged to provide "evidence" for a recommendation. The process by which evidence is obtained during the evaluation is referred to as the "custody and access assessment." The purpose of this study was to explore and examine the process and outcomes of different types of interventions in visitation disputes before the court. (March 2001)

Keeping Contact with Children: Assessing the Father/Child Post-separation Relationship from the Male Perspective (PDF (330 KB) PDF Help ) (CSR-2000-3) by Céline Le Bourdais, Heather Juby and Nicole Marcil-Gratton.

The authors analyzed variations in the frequency of father/child contact following parental separation using data from the General Social Survey on the Family, carried out in 1995 by Statistics Canada. Separated parents replied to questions concerning the amount of time each of their children had spent with them, and with their other parent, during the year preceding the survey. This information made it possible to take into consideration men's attitudes towards, and perceptions of, their parental role. (March 2001)

Focus Groups on Family Law Issues Related to Custody and Access (PDF (164KB) PDF Help ) (2000-FCY-5E) by SAGE Research Corporation.

In early 2000, focus groups were conducted to explore the public's views on which "best interests of the child" criteria should be used in the reform of family law. The groups also examined the underlying values and rationales that lead the public to those choices and preferences as well as attitudes towards current "custody and access" terminology and the possible alternatives that could be used. (February 2001)

Divorce Reform and the Joint Exercise of Parental Authority: The Quebec Civil Law Perspective (PDF (128KB) PDF Help) (2000-FCY-3E) by Dominique Goubau.

This study describes the civil law notion of joint exercise of parental authority and provides a critical analysis of how it is applied and understood in Quebec. The purpose of this study is to determine whether, in the event of divorce reform, Quebec law offers an alternative in terms of parental roles. (February 2001)