What clinical services are available?
What are the benefits to these services?
Parenting Plan Assessments:
- No court order needed (except section 30 assessments)
- Faster and more efficient than going through the application and intake system for subsidized government services. Helps negotiations move forward in mediation outside of court.
- Parents choose their assessor.
- Parents may receive reassurance that all of their concerns have been thoroughly assessed.
- Assesses complex and high conflict cases with more serious allegations and concerns (e.g., interpersonal partner violence, child resist-refuse dynamics, breakdown in parent-child relationships, mental health, addictions, criminal activity, etc.).
- Process can be used for all children (pre-verbal to teenage)
- Parents received a detailed recommended parenting plan, decision-making authority, breakdown of parental responsibilities, and other clinical recommendations.
Voice of the Child Reports:
- No court order needed
- Faster than a full assessment
- Less intrusive than a full assessment
- Does not require observations or professional/personal collateral information
- Less expensive than a full assessment
- Parents choose the professional to meet with their children
- May be completed prior to physical parent separation to help devise a child-focused parenting plan prior to moving into two separate homes
- May be completed at any point following the physical parent separation to facilitate the development of a child-focused parenting plan
- A VOC can be added to another Lawyer-Mediator’s mediation process to help identify and assess the views and preferences of the child
- Helps negotiations between lawyers progress outside of court
- Focuses on the child’s perspective
- As child matures and the family changes, parents can obtain an update regarding the child’s views and preferences
- In cases with a child resisting or refusing contact with a parent, the VOC is important to complete prior to initiating reunification counselling
- In evolving family situations, check-in interviews may be scheduled following the VOC to ascertain how the child is feeling about an interim schedule being implemented
Family Mediation:
- Resolve differences in a respectful and comfortable manner
- Parents customize a parenting plan according to their family’s needs and not imposed by court
- Parents avoid the emotionally and financially costly adversarial court process.
- Helps parents develop a healthy co-parenting relationship.
- Helps reduce parental conflict surrounding the child.
- Parents obtain a child-centered mediated agreement.
How much does it cost?
Parenting Plan Assessment:
- $225 per hour (+ HST), set travel fee for interviews at parent’s homes or child’s school and fees charged by professional collaterals for disclosures
- Retainer fee of $7,000 required to start process
Voice of the Child Report:
- $225 per hour (+ HST) and set travel fee for interviews at parent’s homes or child’s school
- Retainer fee of $4,000 required to start process
Family Mediation:
- Retainer fee of $1,500 with an hourly rate of $225 (+ HST)
- Quebec residents – 5 hours of government subsidized mediation and $225 per hour plus GST/QST thereafter.
How quickly can I get started?
Parenting Plan Assessment:
I will start the process as soon as each parent submits a completed and signed assessment contract and each parent sends in their respective retainer fee. Within 24 hours of receiving both, I aim to send parents a pre-interview questionnaire and domestic violence screening tool to complete and reserve a time for parent interviews. Scheduling of interviews depends on parent’s flexibility and my caseload at that particular time. I aim to be as responsive as possible.
Voice of the Child Report:
I will start the process as soon as each parent submits a completed and signed VOC contract along with their respective retainer fee. Within 24 hours of receiving both, I aim to send parents a pre-interview questionnaire to complete while a time for parent interviews is reserved. Scheduling of interviews depends on parent’s flexibility and my caseload at that particular time. I aim to be as responsive as possible.
Family Mediation:
Parents may communicate with me by email or telephone to discuss their case and schedule an intake interview. It is a voluntary process which requires the commitment of both parents. Please ensure that you are both on board with starting the mediation process. Once a mediation contract and each parent’s retainer fee is received, each parent’s intake meeting is scheduled as soon as possible. The first mediation session is scheduled in a three-hour block.
How long does the process take?
Parenting Plan Assessment:
It is my goal to complete the assessment process within 90 days from the point of parent interviews to the point of disclosure meeting and submission of the report. However, the duration can be lengthened by delays in scheduling interviews/observations, obtaining extensive collateral information and other reasons outside of my control.
Voice of the Child Report:
I usually aim to complete the process within 60 days from the point of parent interview to the point of disclosure meeting. However, the duration can be lengthened by delays in scheduling interviews with parents and children.
Family Mediation:
The duration of the mediation process is highly dependent on the complexity of the issues being mediated, the personalities of the parents and whether both parents are truly open and flexible in the negotiation process.