Building a Brighter Future with a Better Approach
for Separating Families and Children
This is the title of a project the Legal Innovation Zone at Ryerson University (under the leadership and guidance of Chris Bentley and Hersh Perlis) has been conducting over the past 5 months. It is an exciting community collaboration to build a better approach for separating families and children to resolve the issues we face. Hundreds of participants (lawyers, mediators, related professionals, stakeholders, law students, the Ryerson community, community leaders and the public at large) participated in the project since October 2015.
For example, the Ryerson Project timeline and structure:
October 17, 2015: Setting the Basic Structure
October 28, 2015: User/Client
November 10, 2015: Service Providers
November 24, 2015: Designing the Better Approach
January 16, 2016: Building the Better Approach
The Ryerson Project is not about producing a study, paper or report, but about building on knowledge and experience.
Like the growth of the Family Law Pathways Centre TM in Ontario since 2013, the Ryerson Project has grown out of a grass roots movement. The goal of the Ryerson Project has been to design, build and see implemented a more supportive, more affordable and faster approach for families.
The Ryerson Project has been a community collaboration to building an innovative approach to achieve better results for families and children. The Ryerson Project vision dovetails with the Family Law Pathways Vision.
For example, the original 7 Family Law Pathways Vision Statements:
1. To stop the blame, fear and confusion and point families to options out-of-court.
2. To educate families about primary pathways for separation and divorce, and domestic contracts (separation agreements, prenuptial agreements and cohabitation agreements).
3. To provide education and information to empower families and to save family resources.
4. To provide on-site family professionals (each site to have neutral specialists and family consultant; reception/assistant).
5. To provide legal information and early neutral consultation (single session; early neutral consultation for couples; no retainer).
6. To build Pathways Network throughout Ontario (contacts to other neutral professionals, parenting specialists, financial specialists; and contacts to independent legal representation).
7. To build a comprehensive resource and information database (on-line and print).
The outcomes of the Ryerson Project are encouraging to our Family Law Pathways service innovations, how we understand the family law system, and how the different parts of the family law system interact.
The essential building blocks identified in the Ryerson Project can be grouped into four categories:
1. Education/Awareness/Information
2. Screening/Safety
3. Triage
4. Resolution
The Ryerson Project identified 5 key elements for implementation that are also aligned with the design elements of the Centre:
1. Must be more supportive, more affordable and faster;
2. Does not ask for more money from government to operationalize;
3. Will be appropriate for some people, but not all;
4. Operates before the court process is initiated, and outside of it;
5. Does not require legislative or regulatory change, or other permission or dispensation. This approach can work with the skills and tools already available.
FAMILY LAW PATHWAYS – WE BUILD INNOVATION FOR FAMILIES AND FAMILY LAW
The uniqueness and strength of the Family Law Pathways Centre TM is the introduction of Early Neutral Consultation TM, empowering families to simply understand and navigate their way through existing resources and services.
It is encouraging to our work at Family Law Pathways Centre TM, to see the outcomes of the Ryerson Project. It strengthens our work on the building blocks of the Centre –
1. Early Neutral Consultation TM (ENC) – to provide information to couples that is unique, relevant, timely and in a single session;
2. Information First Model – our model empowers families to understand ranges of reasonable options and chose and work efficiently with family dispute resolution professionals as appropriate;
3. Safety and Screening Services – to empower families and professionals to understand and chose screening for domestic abuse and power imbalances prior to all family dispute resolution services as appropriate;
4. PathNet Connect (Ontario largest database of multidisciplinary professionals who provide family dispute resolution services – see also Family Dispute Resolution Institute of Ontario (FDRIO) which is a recent innovation in Ontario).
We continue to build on the good knowledge and experience families, professionals, the community and government have accumulated.
If you are family dispute resolution professional who wishes to be trained to provide Early Neutral Consultation (ENC) – CLICK HERE for ENC Training or CONTACT US.
If you are a provider of services to families and wish to be added to our PathNet referral network – CLICK HERE to learning more about PathNet Network or CONTACT US.