Supporting Families Experiencing Separation and Divorce Initiative (Supporting Families Fund) 2009/2010- 2013/2014

Primary Areas of Activity

PREAMBLE

The Department of Justice Canada developed the primary areas of activity in consultation with the provinces and territories. Recognizing the overlapping jurisdiction of family law in Canada, the following areas respect the individual priorities of the jurisdictions while providing broad guidance on national priorities for access to the family justice system and compliance with financial support and custody/access obligations.

A weighting model for the Supporting Families Fund (SF Fund) was developed to encourage innovation, an integrated approach to the delivery of family justice services, an increased focus on access to the family justice system and the continued development of custody/access and family support compliance and enforcement initiatives.  The weighting model serves to assist the federal government in the assessment and approval of funding requests under the Family Justice Initiative (FJI) and Pilot Projects components of the SF Fund, and to report on the results of federal funding.  It is based largely on the model developed by the Federal, Provincial, Territorial (FPT) Integrated Services/Dispute Resolution Models Working Group (ISDRMWG) in 1999 and the model used for funding under the Child-Centred Family Justice Strategy (CCFJS) (2003/2004-2008/2009). 

Objectives of the Supporting Families Initiative/Fund (SFI/F):

The SFI builds on successes of the CCFLS while also addressing gaps that were identified through the evaluation of the Strategy. The SFI will continue to support the provision of family justice services and programs through the SF Fund, with a special focus on responding to the identified gaps. 

The objectives of the SF Fund are:

• To facilitate access to the family justice system for families experiencing separation and divorce, through various services, programs, and information resources, particularly those that promote compliance with financial support and custody/access obligations.

• To address the needs of parents and communities that face barriers in accessing the family justice system. To that effect, PT partners are required to clearly indicate in their proposals how their projects/activities will further the objectives of the SFI in the context of linguistic duality and diversity in Canada and are encouraged to incorporate these considerations in the provision of their federally supported family justice services, programs and information resources.    

Performance Reporting

Due to the Treasury Board accountability requirements, the Department of Justice will have to report annually on the extent to which funding is achieving the objectives of the Supporting Families Experiencing Separation and Divorce Fund (SF Fund).  Therefore, all projects and services must provide information on outcomes through the ongoing collection of performance information and through a more in-depth evaluation during the lifespan of the project or activity.

In addition to serving the accountability requirement of the Fund, this information could serve to provide empirical support for enhanced and sustained federal funding for family justice services.

Scope of the Funded Activities:

The programs and services supported under the SF Fund should be provided to both, separating and divorcing families. The exception, on case by case basis, could be for pilot projects (up to 3 years) that could target separating families only. 

WEIGHTING MODEL

The weighting model recognises four general categories of provincial and territorial family justice activities: (1) Integration, (2) Research and evaluation (3) Custody/Access Compliance and Enforcement (4) Family Support Compliance and Enforcement.

Specific PAAs fit into each category, as outlined below.

• 1) Integration – a minimum of 40% of a jurisdiction’s total allotment under the Fund.

  This category encourages the implementation of new family justice legislation, the development of new integrated family justice programs and services addressing parenting arrangements (including parenting agreements and orders, access orders, custody orders, child services (such as child education), custody/access and family support compliance and enforcement, as well as the integration of existing services and programs such as parent education, mediation, administrative recalculation, particularly those for communities that face barriers in accessing the family justice system.

  This category includes programs and services listed under PAA #1 (coordination costs); PAA #2 (integrated services); and, PAA #7 (public education).

• 2) Research, Evaluation and Performance Monitoring – a minimum of 7% of a jurisdiction’s total allotment under the Fund.

  This category encourages provinces and territories to plan and carry out evaluation, research, and performance measurement activities to support the federal need for performance information, which will be essential to any Departmental reporting on the success of the SF I and for on-going funding beyond March 31, 2014.  Other important objectives of this funding are to:

  improve the understanding of the short and long term impacts on families and the family justice system of the various family justice services; and

  develop and support research capacity building within jurisdictions including the implementation and reporting of data to the CCJS’ national surveys; and advance the knowledge of the state of families experiencing separation and divorce.

  This category includes activities listed under PAA #6.

  How to meet the required 7% allotment:

  Jurisdictions can use various methods to reach the 7% figure, such as:

  • In multi-year agreements, the average over the life of the agreement will be considered, not what is spent in each year;
  • Ensure that activities contained in a jurisdiction’s funding proposal under the SF Fund include research/evaluation; and
  • Collaborating with other provinces/territories and/or the federal Research Unit on research and evaluation activities (e.g., undertaking multi-jurisdictional research and evaluation).

• 3) Custody/Access Compliance and Enforcement - a minimum of 20% of a jurisdiction’s total allotment under the Fund.

  This category includes the development/ enhancement, implementation and monitoring/evaluation of innovative custody/ access compliance programs and services as well as access to the family justice system activities, particularly those for communities experiencing barriers.

  This category includes programs and services listed under PAAs #3.

• 4)  Family Support Compliance and Enforcement - a minimum of 20% of a jurisdiction’s total allotment under the Fund. 

  This category encourages provinces and territories to undertake the development, implementation, enhancement, and monitoring/evaluation of innovative family support compliance and enforcement activities

  This category includes programs and services listed under PAA#4; and PAA # 5 (inter-jurisdictional enforcement).

OTHER FUNDING

The Department of Justice encourages partnerships to achieve common family justice goals. Proposals (and accompanying budgets) must list all sources of funding, including provincial in-kind contributions.  Significant contributions by the recipient or other partners, for example in the area of research, should be identified in the funding proposal and all results shared with the Family, Children and Youth Section. 

FUNDING EXCLUSIONS

Contribution funding programs such as the Supporting Families Fund are excluded by federal policy from funding programs or services included under federal-provincial/territorial co-funded programs such as Legal Aid, Youth Justice and Aboriginal Court worker, and under special statutes such as Employment Insurance

ELIGIBLE EXPENSES

• Cost of travel of one participant member for the CCSO-Family Justice Sub-Committee level meetings (e.g., ISO, Enforcement, Research) or at any other meeting that is called by FCY in relation to the SFI initiative (on case by case basis);   
• Salaries/benefits and wages; 
• Services provided under contract with a private contractor or consultant or a Canadian university or institute or community-based organization;
• All reasonable operating expenses including, but not limited to, office supplies, printing, publishing, distribution, promotion, rent, utilities, telephone, internet access, computer service rentals, repairs and maintenance;
• Rental or leasing costs for information technology hardware and software directly related to federally funded activity or service contained in a jurisdiction’s funding proposal.  A proposal should clearly identify the equipment required and the number of units; 
• Purchase of  information technology hardware and software for child support  federal and provincial recalculation purposes (e.g., ChildView software)
• Cost of  training on information technology software for federal and provincial child support calculation/recalculation purposes (e.g., ChildView software)
•  Development of specialised software and hardware required by Maintenance Enforcement (e.g., programs that are innovative in nature or are required for the development of family case-tracking information systems) will be considered on a case-by-case basis.  

INELIGIBLE EXPENSES

• Expenses related to participation at the main table of CCSO – Family Justice
• International travel expenses;
• Backfill staffing costs;
• The cost of purchasing commercially available general office software and hardware;
• Honorariums, entertainment fees including gifts and souvenirs for participants at conferences and workshops;
• The purchase of buildings, land, vehicles and other major capital expenses (i.e., renovations); and
• Professional development training costs (except for national operational training reasons).

ACTIVITY TYPE

The following examples of projects/activities have been provided as suggestions only by the Department of Justice Canada.  Should a jurisdiction wish to submit a detailed funding proposal for a specific activity other than those identified under the activity areas, the Department would be pleased to review its request in light of the objectives of the SF Fund.

PRIMARY AREAS OF ACTIVITY

• PAA #1: Funding to support the coordination of family justice activities such as parenting arrangements, custody/access and family support compliance and enforcement.

  Activities classified under PAA #1 include, but are not limited to:

  • Cost of travel for one participant member per year for each of the sub-committees of the CCSO Family Justice and, to be considered on a case-by-case basis having regard to the Initiative’s objectives, for any other meeting organized by the Department of Justice Canada’s Family, Children and Youth Section to which a participant has been invited to attend;
  • Salary and benefits for a Project Manager.

• PAA #2: Funding to support the development, delivery, enhancement and expansion of innovative and/or integrated family justice activities and services

  Activities classified under PAA #2 include, but are not limited to:

  • Dispute resolution mechanisms (including screening for family violence and providing /adapting services for high conflict families);
  • Parent education programs and program enhancements including those aimed at communities that face barriers in accessing the family justice system;
  • Services for fathers and mothers (including debtors’ assistance programs);
  • Counselling, front-end assessments, legal services and other support services to address children’s needs going through separation or divorce;
  • Triage models of service delivery and/or adapting the existing service delivery models to the needs of hard to reach communities;
  • Expansion of family justice and information services to rural, Aboriginal and other  disparate populations;
  • Development and enhancement of computer systems needed to support integrated services (such as case management systems, Auto-Orders, or the integration of Central Registry of Divorce Proceedings data filing);
  • Pilot projects to address specific client needs (outreach to payors and recipients);
  • Development/implementation of alternative models to the current system, including administrative models; and
  • Activities related to streamlining court processes.

• PAA #3: Funding to support the development, implementation, delivery and/or enhancement of services that deal with access to justice and compliance with custody/access obligations

  Activities classified under PAA #3 include, but are not limited to:

  • Parenting Coordination Services (e.g., establishment of parenting coordinator positions, parenting assessments; parenting plans focussing on access issues);
  • Development and implementation of Supervised Access/Supervised Exchanges programs;
  • Developing checklists/standard clauses/wording for parents to reach appropriate parenting arrangements/orders and to aid with clarity in their obligations;
  • Follow-up parent education programs to deal with issues arising from variation orders and changes of circumstance and access
  • Enforcement of parenting orders and agreements including inter-jurisdictional issues;
  • Implementation of high conflict parent education programs
  • Expand information services to include explanation to parents of their obligations to comply with orders in relation to access
  • Produce materials, or supplements to existing materials, which emphasize the importance of contact with both parents;
  • Work (e.g., policy development, implementation, etc) on the 1996 Convention on Jurisdiction, Applicable Law, Recognition, Enforcement and Co-operation in Respect of Parental Responsibility and Measures for the Protection of Children.

• PAA #4: Funding to support the development, enhancement, and delivery of innovative family support enforcement and compliance activities.

  Activities classified under PAA #4 include, but are not limited to:

  • Funding of activities related to the development and implementation of support enforcement related measures.  These activities may include changes to legislation, review and/or creation of new policies and procedures as required, training of staff, consultation with key stakeholders and technological enhancements.

  For example, this could include the following types of activities:

  • Revising or upgrading of policies, procedures and systems to increase accessibility and use of the Family Orders and Agreements Enforcement Assistance information system, such as implementing file transfer protocol, creating files for audit purposes, etc.
  • Activities that relate to improving the local, regional or national trace and locate efforts such as: increasing number of provincial or territorial databanks accessed, creating dedicated trace and locate units, etc.
  • Activities that relate to providing training for maintenance enforcement program staff;
  • Activities that relate to improving client relations (payors and recipients) and partners (business community, special interest groups) such as outreach programs, early intervention procedures, etc.
  • Activities that improve and/or harmonize enforcement efforts across Canada such as implementing electronic transfer of funds with all provinces and territories, standardizing enforcement mechanisms, policies and procedures, accessing the Family Orders and Agreement Enforcement Assistance Program through file transfer protocol;
  • Other activities such as, providing greater access to locator services, either federal or provincial; development of standard orders; immigration and United States border crossing issues; reciprocal enforcement between jurisdictions recognizing each other’s motor vehicle suspensions, etc;
  • Implementing the priorities and action items of the five-year Strategy of the FPT Maintenance Enforcement Program Directors and the Enforcement Subcommittee workplan;
  • Accessing any new information provided by the federal government or changes in federal legislation;
  •  Implementing any amendments to federal legislation related to support enforcement;
  • Client service representatives.

• PAA #5: Funding to support provincial/territorial efforts as they relate to the establishment, variation and recognition of inter-jurisdictional support orders.

  Activities classified under PAA #5 include, but are not limited to:

  • Funding to facilitate the efficient establishment, variation, and recognition of inter-jurisdictional support orders, thereby improving the ability to collect support payments for support recipients residing in Canadian and in foreign States;

  For example, this could include the following types of activities:

  • Improving, updating and modernizing inter-jurisdictional support orders legislation and related forms;
  • Improving policies, procedures and mechanisms to streamline and automate the inter-jurisdictional enforcement process;
  • Implementing amendments to the inter-jurisdictional Support Orders Act (ISO) and adopting revised ISO Forms and Guides;
  • Implementing the Inter-jurisdictional Maintenance Establishment and Enforcement Protocol and the FPT Reciprocal Maintenance Order Recognition and Enforcement: Operational Principles and Goals document;
  • Implementing the priorities and action items of the five year Strategy of the FPT Maintenance Enforcement Program Directors and Inter-jurisdictional Support Sub-committee work plan;
  • Work (e.g., policy development, implementation, etc) on the new Hague Convention on the International Recovery of Child support and Order Forms of Family Maintenance;
  • Working with national/international partners to improve the collection of child support payments; and
  • Research and development of appropriate systems to improve currency conversion and the transfer of funds between jurisdictions

• PAA #6: Funding to support research, evaluation, project monitoring and performance measurement activities in family justice.

  Activities classified under PAA #6 include, but are not limited to:

  • Conducting or collaborating in research to monitor the impact of changes to legislation on separation, divorce, family support, parenting arrangements and enforcement of orders;
  • Conducting or collaborating in research or evaluation of programs or activities including those communities that face barriers in accessing the justice system such as   Aboriginal communities, official language minority communities, ethno-cultural minority communities, etc.; 
  • Conducting or collaborating in research on the impact of dispute resolution approaches on the determination of support obligation amounts and compliance with parenting arrangements;
  • Conducting studies to assess the feasibility of piloting, establishing or enhancing dispute resolution mechanisms to determine, vary or recalculate the amount of child support;
  • Conducting studies to assess the feasibility of piloting, establishing or enhancing programs and services which address access issues;
  • Conducting studies to assess the feasibility of piloting, establishing or enhancing programs and services which address high conflict parent needs;
  • Development and implementation of performance measurement strategies for funded activities and programs and analysis and reporting of performance information;
  • Collecting and analysing information on performance measures in reports and/or producing ad-hoc information that measures case volumes and characteristics of activities undertaken;
  • Monitoring and evaluation of alternative models to the current system, including administrative models;
  • Continuing/expanding the Survey of  Family Courts (and revised editions) on child support, and parenting arrangements;
  • Development of mechanisms for capturing  case information about clients using family justice services;
  • Participation in the FPT collaborative surveys, such as the Survey on the Provision of Family Justice Services;
  • Revising or upgrading information system to meet the requirements of the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics Survey of Maintenance Enforcement Programs;
  • Implementing priorities and action items of the Research Subcommittee work plan; and
  • Evaluating and monitoring the results of pilot projects and other services.

• PAA #7: Funding to support public awareness and understanding of the Family Justice System

  Activities classified under PAA #7 include, but are not limited to:

  • Communication or law information activities (e.g. toll-free information lines, advertising campaign, web-sites);
  • Production and distribution of communication or law information materials (e.g. brochures, videos, information packages that promote the benefit to parents and children of compliance with family obligations and address the needs of communities facing barriers in accessing the family justice system;
  • Translation/adaptation of updated materials into the minority official language, and other minority languages in Canada;
  • Information sessions that address the family justice needs of hard to reach parents and communities;
  • Professional training delivered by PTs that focus on the objectives of the fund.

Prepared by:
Program Development Unit
Family, Children and Youth Section

Date: March 18, 2009