What clinical services are available?
What are the benefits to these services?
Parenting Plan Assessments
- Parenting plan recommendations that are centered on the best interests of the child.
- Helps parents inside and outside the court system assess what parenting plan arrangements best meet their child’s best interests.
- Parents are in control of choosing the assessor.
- Parents can be reassured that their parenting concerns have been assessed by a neutral mental health professional.
- A private assessment can circumvent the need to obtain a court order and delays.
- Helps inform settlement discussions for parents in mediation or court proceedings.
Voice of the Child (VoC) Reports
- Focuses on the child’s perspective and their experience in their separated family.
- Reveals whether a child is being directly or indirectly exposed to parent conflict, which can negatively impact their well-being.
- Shares the child’s reasons for resisting or refusing to have contact with a parent.
- Reveals the child’s views on parenting approaches.
- Identifies potential red flag issues (e.g., substance misuse, mental health, etc.).
- Provides the child’s views and preferences on a parent’s proposal to relocate.
- Helps parents develop a child-informed parenting plan.
- It is less intrusive and lengthy than a full parenting plan assessment process.
- Helps develop a child-focused parenting plan before physically separating.
- Facilitates settlement discussions in and outside of court proceedings by independently obtaining the children’s views and preferences.
- Provides the child’s updated views and preferences following a parenting plan assessment before a trial.
- Post-VoC check-in interviews can be a relatively quick way to assess how the children are adapting to parenting schedule changes.
Family Mediation and Child-Inclusive Mediation
- Parents may resolve their differences respectfully and comfortably.
- Rather than having a third-party judge or arbitrator impose their agreement, parents can tailor it to their family’s needs.
- Helps parents restructure their communication and expectations from those of an intimate relationship to those of a co-parenting relationship.
- Helps reduce parental conflict surrounding the child.
- Parents avoid the adversarial process of engaging opposing counsel and entering the court system to help resolve conflicts regarding their children.
- More buy-in from the parents since they both collaborated in the process.
- Creative parenting plans can be implemented with check-ins with the children to see how they are adapting.
- The final mediated agreement is oriented around the child’s needs and the realities of the family. Reaching a resolution provides both parents (and their children by extension) a sense of security and peace.
- Children can be interviewed to obtain their views and preferences to help inform discussions and keep them child-focused.
- The mediator can conduct interviews with relevant collateral sources to inform the discussions.
How much does it cost?
Parenting Plan Assessments
- Billed at a rate of $225/hour +HST.
- To start, a $7,000 retainer is required.
- Send payments via Interac e-Transfer® to cbourgeois@chantalbourgeois.ca, or by cheque.
Additional charges include travel expenses and fees charged by collateral sources.
Costs can be split equally, shared proportionally to income, or paid by a single payor.
Total costs depend on the complexity of the file, frequency and duration of the interviews, communications and legal documentation.
Some or all services may be covered by your insurance plan. Please consult your insurance company directly for coverage details.
Voice of the Child (VoC) reports
- Billed at a rate of $225/hour +HST.
- To start, a $4,000 retainer is required.
- Send payments via Interac e-Transfer® to cbourgeois@chantalbourgeois.ca, or by cheque.
Additional charges include travel expenses and fees charged by collateral sources.
Costs can be split equally, shared proportionally to income, or paid by a single payor.
Total costs depend on the number of children and duration of the parent interviews.
Some or all services may be covered by your insurance plan. Please consult your insurance company directly for coverage details.
Family Mediation
Ontario
- Billed at a rate of $225/hour +HST.
- Send payments via Interac e-Transfer® to cbourgeois@chantalbourgeois.ca, or by cheque.
Costs can be split equally, shared proportionally to income, or paid by a single payor.
Total costs depend on the complexity and duration of the case.
Some or all services may be covered by your insurance plan. Please consult your insurance company directly for coverage details.
Québec
- Separating common-law and married couples receive five hours of mediation subsidized by the Québec government, plus a 2.5-hour session on Parenting after Separation (at the local courthouse).
- Parents wishing to have an existing agreement or court order reviewed are entitled to 2.5 hours of subsidized mediation services.
- Once these subsidized hours are used up, parents are charged $225/hour +GST and QST.
How quickly can it get started?
Parenting Plan Assessments
- Both parents should complete and sign a contract for the parenting plan assessment. Ms. Bourgeois will advise parents of the earliest start date. If the start date is within 45 days, parents are asked to provide a $7,000 retainer for the family. If the start date is more than 45 days away, parents are asked to provide a $1,000 deposit to hold a start time.
- Within two weeks of the date of the first parent interviews, parents will be asked to submit the remaining retainer.
- Parents will then be sent intake forms to complete, which they are asked to submit a minimum of two working days before their parent interviews.
Voice of the Child (VoC) reports
- Both parents should complete and sign a contract for a standard VoC, simplified VoC, or hybrid VoC.
- Parents are asked to provide a $4,000 retainer for the family.
- Typically, parent interviews are scheduled within 2 to 3 weeks, unless there are any unexpected delays associated with a heavy caseload.
- Parents will then be sent intake forms to complete, which they are asked to submit a minimum of two working days before their parent interviews.
Family Mediation and Child-Inclusive Mediation
- Parents should complete a family mediation or child-inclusive mediation contract.
- Parents are asked to provide a $1,500 retainer for the family.
- This is a voluntary process that requires both parents’ commitment.
- Individual intake interviews and a first mediation session will be scheduled.
- Parents are sent intake forms to complete in advance of their intake meeting.
How long does the process take?
Parenting Plan Assessments
- This process typically takes a minimum of 120 days from the parent interview to the disclosure meeting. However, the timeline may be extended due to delays in scheduling interviews, gathering extensive collateral information, new child protection or criminal investigations, and other factors beyond my control.
Voice of the Child (VoC) reports
- The aim is to complete the process within 60 days; however, the duration can be extended by delays in scheduling interviews with parents and children (e.g., frequent school absences).
Family Mediation and Child-Inclusive Mediation
- The duration of the mediation process depends heavily on the complexity of the issues being mediated, the parents’ personalities, and whether both parents are truly open and flexible in the negotiation process.
