CLE Online

Keynote Address: Evidentiary and Empirical Standards in Family Law Interventions and Assessments

• role of the forensic psychologist in child custody litigation
• forensic versus clinical approaches to custody assessments
• bias; ethical issues
• evidentiary standards

Philip M. Stahl, PhD, ABPP (Forensic) — Parenting After Divorce, Queen Creek, Arizona

Networking Break

Assessments in Family Law Disputes

• when and why to seek assessment of parent and child
• when assessment of child is inappropriate
• adult assessments; parenting capacity, employability, mental health concerns, personality disorders, family violence
• child assessments
• assessing relevance; impact on case
• evidentiary status of findings of fact, hearsay, and test results
• recommendations on the ultimate issue; court’s discretion to reach alternative conclusions
• red flags

Michael Elterman, PhD, MBA, RPsych — Vancouver
Eugene Raponi, QC — Waddell Raponi, Victoria

Networking Lunch

Why and How we Hear from Children

• United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child
• court’s discretion to determine how children’s evidence is received
• children’s letters and videos, testimony, and affidavits
• evidence of parents and other adults
• judicial interviews
• custody assessments
• children as parties
• children’s counsel

Evaluative and Non-evaluative Views of the Child Reports

• nature and content of each
• differences in confidentiality and control of child over content
• contraindications, limitations, and weaknesses
• evidentiary concerns
• selecting assessors/interviewers

David C. Dundee — Paul & Company, Kamloops
Mary Korpach, PhD, RPsych — Vancouver
Suzanne S. Williams — Brown Henderson Melbye, Victoria

Understanding Custody Assessments

• understanding commonly used psychometric tools and diagnostic output
• understanding ethnocultural weaknesses; limitations of psychometric tools
• assessing and understanding strengths and weaknesses of report: process, choice of tool, analysis, choice of informants, vulnerabilities of informants
• critically assessing report recommendations
• rebuttal reports: best practices and recommendations of AFCC and the College of Psychologists
• 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

• judicial treatment of alienation claims in court
• contempt, conduct orders, costs, and fines
• removal of child, reversal of parenting schedule, and allocation of parenting responsibilities
• extraordinary enforcement remedies
• effectiveness of judicial responses

Morag M.J. MacLeod — Barrister & Solicitor, Vancouver

When Enough is Enough

• knowing when to down tools
• low-impact means of leaving the door to reconciliation open
• impact on rejected parent
• helping the rejected parent

Jesse L. Desilets — Schuman Daltrop Basran & Robin, Vancouver
Jonathan M. Lazar — Watson Goepel LLP, Vancouver

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