Ontario Hear the Child Society
Under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, and also under Canadian and Ontario law, children have the right to have their voice heard where decisions are being made that affect them.
Parenting Coordinators (PCs) therefore now have a responsibility to consider, in all cases, how best to do that.
In many cases, the most practical and proportionate option is for the Parenting Coordinator (PC) interview the children themselves. Some PCs have training in interviewing children but many do not. Without adequate training and skills, interviewing children can be risky for both the PC and the family.
FDRIO reached out to the BC Hear the Child Society, an organization that has been training and supporting child-inclusive dispute resolution for many years and has developed outstanding protocols and standards for interviewing children and providing useful and affordable Hear the Child Reports.
We are pleased to announce that FDRIO has entered into an Affiliation Agreement with BC Hear the Child Society (BC-HTCS). FDRIO will be establishing an Ontario Hear the Child Society as an affiliate of the BC group to support a qualified roster of professionals who can complete a Hear the Child Report for the parents in their files.
In October, we partnered with BC-HTCS to bring the Non-Evaluative Child Interviewing (NECI) training course to Ontario. Twenty-five participants completed the training in October and a second cohort will be trained in February 2023. The NECI course will be part of the qualifying requirements to join the Ontario Roster and to provide Hear the Child Reports in Ontario.
We are now creating a Society that will support the Roster and to provide programs for people who interview children.
Contact us at info@fdrio.ca if you are interested!
From Arb Section
ARBITRATION SECTION:
Consultation on NEW Mediation Arbitration Agreement
The Arbitration Section has been designing a new Med-Arb agreement with the aim to release a standardized agreement that all med-arb professionals can use.
The consultation is open until January 16th.
You can send your comments to info@fdrio.ca and they will be passed on to the Arbitration Section.