Assessments & Interventions: The Interection of Family Law and Psychology 2016 - Day 1
Course Date: March 10, 2016
Total: 6h 4min
Course Date: March 10, 2016
Day 1: Thursday, March 10, 2016
Welcome and Introduction
John-Paul E. Boyd — Executive Director, Canadian Research Institute for Law and the Family, Calgary
Alyson Jones — Alyson Jones & Associates, West Vancouver
Morag M.J. MacLeod — Barrister & Solicitor, Vancouver
Keynote Address: Understanding Children's Refusal to Visit
- key concepts: estrangement, alignment, affinity, and alienation
- role of gender: claims vs. outcomes
- role of courts
- role of mental health professionals
- role of counsel: gladiator, healer, or it depends?
Professor Nicholas Bala — Faculty of Law, Queen’s University, Kingston
Fundamentals of Attachment
- Adler’s basic theory and current thinking
- children’s relationships with family and friends
- children’s future relationships as adults
- adults entering new relationships
- enmeshment and inappropriate attachment
Nicole Aubé, PhD, RPsych — Vancouver
Networking Break
Relevant Childhood Developmental Factors in Making Parenting Arrangements
- key developmental milestones from infancy through adolescence
- the psychosocial needs of children
- indicators of stressed or disrupted milestones
- considerations in developing age-appropriate parenting plans, arrangements, and application for drafting orders
Jesse Elterman, MA, PhD Candidate — Vancouver
Networking Lunch +
Children's Experience of Parental Relationship Breakdown
- children’s experience of parental conflict pre- and post-separation
- children’s reactions to separation
- risks associated with separation
- impact of conflict on normal risks of separation
- child and parent factors buffering children from conflict
John-Paul E. Boyd — Executive Director, Canadian Research Institute for Law and the Family, Calgary
Protecting Children From Conflict
- potential short- and long-term effects of conflict on children
- impact of conflict on children’s lives as adults
- parental behaviours aggravating and mitigating conflict
- role of counsel in minimizing conflict
- designing parenting plans to mitigate conflict
- judicial and therapeutic responses, including parenting coordination
Nikki Charlton — Farris, Vaughan, Wills & Murphy LLP, Vancouver
Alyson Jones — Alyson Jones & Associates, West Vancouver
Children with Special Needs in Family Law Disputes
- special needs of children with special needs
- therapeutic responses
- identifying need for expert evidence
- special considerations in developing parenting plans
Nicole Aubé, PhD, RPsych — Vancouver
Alienation and Estrangement
- Gardner’s theory, Johnston and Kelly’s reformulation; survey of current thinking
- hallmarks of alienation, Darnall’s typology of alienators
- distinguishing estrangement from alienation and co-occurrence of alienation and estrangement
- rejected parents’ experience of attachment disruption
- children’s short- and long-term experience of attachment disruption
- assessing for urgency
- red flags
John-Paul E. Boyd — Executive Director, Canadian Research Institute for Law and the Family, Calgary
Networking Break
Therapeutic Responses and Interventions
- identifying the goals of intervention
- types of intervention
- assessing strengths and weaknesses of proposed interventions and intervenors
- assessing credibility and standing, assessing intervention evaluations, identifying conflicts of interest
- court involvement and identifying need for ongoing case management during intervention
- managing parents and children who refuse to participate
- red flags
Alyson Jones — Alyson Jones & Associates, West Vancouver
Best Practices and Recommended Responses to Allegations of Alienation
- speedy diagnosis, speedy intervention
- scepticism, caution, and protection of children
- early assessment of allegations and early restoration of contact
- therapeutic interventions and role of courts
- active judicial case management
- role of counsel
- deciding when and how to stop enforcement
Professor Nicholas Bala — Faculty of Law, Queen’s University, Kingston
Philip M. Stahl, PhD, ABPP (Forensic) — Parenting After Divorce, Queen Creek, Arizona
Closing Remarks
John-Paul E. Boyd — Executive Director, Canadian Research Institute for Law and the Family, Calgary
Alyson Jones — Alyson Jones & Associates, West Vancouver
Morag M.J. MacLeod — Barrister & Solicitor, Vancouver
Reception
Day 2: Friday, March 11, 2016
Welcome and Introduction
John-Paul E. Boyd — Executive Director, Canadian Research Institute for Law and the Family, Calgary
Alyson Jones — Alyson Jones & Associates, West Vancouver
Morag M.J. MacLeod — Barrister & Solicitor, Vancouver
Keynote Address: Evidentiary and Empirical Standards in Family Law Interventions and Assessments
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role of the forensic psychologist in child custody litigation
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forensic versus clinical approaches to custody assessments
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bias; ethical issues
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evidentiary standards
Philip M. Stahl, PhD, ABPP (Forensic) — Parenting After Divorce, Queen Creek, Arizona
Networking Break
Assessments in Family Law Disputes
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when and why to seek assessment of parent and child
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when assessment of child is inappropriate
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adult assessments; parenting capacity, employability, mental health concerns, personality disorders, family violence
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child assessments
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assessing relevance; impact on case
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evidentiary status of findings of fact, hearsay, and test results
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recommendations on the ultimate issue; court’s discretion to reach alternative conclusions
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red flags
Michael Elterman, PhD, MBA, RPsych — Vancouver
Eugene Raponi, QC — Waddell Raponi, Victoria
Networking Lunch
Why and How we Hear from Children
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United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child
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court’s discretion to determine how children’s evidence is received
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children’s letters and videos, testimony, and affidavits
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evidence of parents and other adults
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judicial interviews
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custody assessments
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children as parties
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children’s counsel
Evaluative and Non-evaluative Views of the Child Reports
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nature and content of each
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differences in confidentiality and control of child over content
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contraindications, limitations, and weaknesses
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evidentiary concerns
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selecting assessors/interviewers
David C. Dundee — Paul & Company, Kamloops
Mary Korpach, PhD, RPsych — Vancouver
SuzanneS. Williams — Brown Henderson Melbye, Victoria
Understanding Custody Assessments
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understanding commonly used psychometric tools and diagnostic output
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understanding ethnocultural weaknesses; limitations of psychometric tools
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assessing and understanding strengths and weaknesses of report: process, choice of tool, analysis, choice of informants, vulnerabilities of informants
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critically assessing report recommendations
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rebuttal reports: best practices and recommendations of AFCC and the College of Psychologists
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red flags
Rebecca St. Clere England, PhD, RPsych — Ward St. Clere Inc., Vancouver
View from the Bench Regarding Roles of Assessors and Experts in Parenting and Custody Cases
The Honourable Mr. Justice Patrice Abrioux — Supreme Court of British Columbia, Vancouver
Networking Break
Assessment and Intervention Roundtable: Process and Procedure
Moderator: John-Paul E. Boyd — Executive Director, Canadian Research Institute for Law and the Family, Calgary
The Honourable Mr. Justice Patrice Abrioux — Supreme Court of British Columbia, Vancouver
David Dundee — Paul & Company, Kamloops
Rebecca St. Clere England, PhD, RPsych — Ward St. Clere Inc., Vancouver
Mary Korpach, PhD, RPsych — Vancouver
Alyson Jones — Alyson Jones & Associates, West Vancouver
Judicial Responses
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judicial treatment of alienation claims in court
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contempt, conduct orders, costs, and fines
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removal of child, reversal of parenting schedule, and allocation of parenting responsibilities
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extraordinary enforcement remedies
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effectiveness of judicial responses
Morag M.J. MacLeod — Barrister & Solicitor, Vancouver
When Enough is Enough
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knowing when to down tools
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low-impact means of leaving the door to reconciliation open
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impact on rejected parent
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helping the rejected parent
Jesse L. Desilets — Schuman Daltrop Basran & Robin, Vancouver
Jonathan M. Lazar — Watson Goepel LLP, Vancouver
Closing Remarks
John-Paul E. Boyd — Executive Director, Canadian Research Institute for Law and the Family, Calgary
Alyson Jones — Alyson Jones & Associates, West Vancouver
Morag M.J. MacLeod — Barrister & Solicitor, Vancouver
Date:
March 10, 2016
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Presentation Content:
Paper: Views, Perspectives and Experiences of Children in Family Cases