Tell us Your Story
Can you tell us the beginning of your story, from the point when you realized that you had a family challenge or problem and wanted external help, to the moment when you came in contact with someone who provided you with help (inside or outside of the family law justice system)?
If you felt blocked in the process and couldn’t receive any help, you can also tell us this story.
You may also trace your story backwards, from the moment you came into contact with a family justice worker back to the beginning of your family challenge or problem.
Can you tell us the beginning of your story, from the point when you realized that you had a family challenge or problem and wanted external help, to the moment when you came in contact with someone who provided you with help (inside or outside of the family law justice system)?
If you felt blocked in the process and couldn’t receive any help, you can also tell us this story.
You may also trace your story backwards, from the moment you came into contact with a family justice worker back to the beginning of your family challenge or problem.
Imagining a Different Scenario
If you had to redo everything again, what would you do again, do differently or never do again at the beginning of the process of solving your family challenge or problem?
What would your story have looked like if you had had access to the services you were looking for?
Imagining a Different Scenario
Your Resources
Who was the most helpful person in terms of helping you resolve your family challenge or problem? (This person may or may not be a family justice system worker.)
Do you have access to an informal network of support?
– If you do, can you describe it?
o Could you rely on a person within this network to help you if you had a family challenge or problem?
– If you don’t, what would you do if you needed family-related help?
o Who would be the best person to help you?
When it comes to receiving family justice services, do you have specific needs related to your group identity, ability, geographical location or experience of migrating to Canada?
What did you NOT know before or during your relationship, parenting experience or overall family experience that may have helped prevent family challenges or problems?
External Resources
Please identify any of the following online public legal education resources that you know about or have used by checking the boxes:
– Ministry of the Attorney General Know about Have used http://www.attorneygeneral.jus.gov.on.ca/english/justice-ont/family_law.asp
– Community Legal Education Ontario
Family law Know about Have used
http://www.cleo.on.ca/english/pub/onpub/subject/family.htm
Six languages project Know about Have used
http://www.cleo.on.ca/english/six/index.htm
– Family Law Education for Women Know about Have used
http://onefamilylaw.ca/
– Ontario Women Justice Network http://www.owjn.org/
Family law Know about Have used http://www.owjn.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=219&Itemid=104
Violence against women Know about Have used http://www.owjn.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=217&Itemid=107
– Canadian Council for Muslim Women http://www.ccmw.com
Muslim and Canadian family law Know about Have used
http://www.ccmw.com/documents/Muslim_and_Canadian_Family_Laws.pdf
– Department of Justice Canada
Family Violence Know about Have used
<http://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/pi/fv-vf/pub/abus/aiw-mei/index.html>.
– Other (please indicate the relevant resource): _____________________
Do you think such resources can be helpful in preventing and/or resolving family challenges or problems?
– If you do,
o How would you prefer receiving this information?
o Where would you go if you had access to this information but wanted to learn more or if you were facing a family challenge and needed further help to resolve it?
– If not, why?
Assuming that not everyone prefers or is in a position to receive services in the same way, how do you prefer receiving services in the area of family law?
– What would be the most accessible entry point for you?
– How important are in-person interactions for you?
– Do some means of communication work better than others for you?
– Are there any technologies that may help reaching out to you?
Workers
Your Situation
Where are you situated in the family law process?
– Do you intervene at an early stage in the process?
– Do you receive phone calls from people who just had a family challenge or problem?
– How do people find you?
Do you consider yourself an entry point into the family justice system?
– If so, why?
– If not, where do people typically go before meeting you?
Your Challenges
Have you worked with people who experienced domestic and family violence?
– How do you identify these cases?
o Do you have specific criteria to identify these cases?
o How would you describe domestic and family violence?
– Do you provide specific information or referrals to users or other workers who have to deal with this type of problem?
Have you worked with people who could be described as “legal bullies” or who engage in “legal bullying” (i.e. using the legal system to bully someone)?
– Do you have specific criteria to identify these cases?
– How would you describe “legal bullying”?
Rewriting a User’s Story
If you could rewrite the story of one of your clients (or a user of the system that you have interacted with) and design the most effective way to solve the issue, what would that story be?
Family Law Laywers
Your Situation
How would you describe your clientele from a group identity perspective (income, sex, race, age, ability, religion, etc.)?
How do your clients come to you?
What steps do you take to try to solve your client’s issue in a fast and cost effective way?
– Do you explore collaborative law or ADR options when appropriate?
– Do you find that you have enough of an opportunity to negotiate settlements?
– Do you take Legal Aid Ontario certificates?
What do you consider to be limits of the law in terms of solving family challenges or problems?
– What other resources can compensate for these limits?
– What should legal professionals do to avoid reinforcing these limits?
What are the worst mistakes that happen at the beginning of the family justice process?
– How can we avoid these mistakes?
Questions for All
Information Circulation
Should free information sessions be mandatory before entering into a marriage or cohabitation contract?
Should court-based information sessions, such as Parent Information Sessions be mandatory before any parent starts legal procedures across Ontario?
– If they remain voluntary, who could/should refer clients to these information sessions so that they are not underused?
– How should these sessions be advertised so that users learn about them?
Should public legal education materials and information sessions be structured differently if they are offered before and after a family problem arises?
– If so, what should be the main differences?
– If not, why?
Should there be an obligation for all entry point professionals (lawyers, mediators, social workers, etc.) to inform people of their dispute resolution options at a low cost before providing any services to someone?
In-Person Support
What is the best way to ensure that users receive in-person support and are accompanied when they navigate through the family justice system?
– Is there a way to better coordinate users’ informal networks with more formal government funded ones?
– What community building efforts can be made to improve in-person services?
o Are there already existing support systems that could be used in more than one discipline?
o Are there workers (e.g. social workers) who are particularly effective at developing a holistic approach to user accompaniment within and beyond the family justice system?
Referrals
Should professionals be required to refer clients to government funded free information sessions or provide the free sessions themselves?
Should professionals be obliged to make referrals and evaluate their quality?
– Should health and legal professionals have the responsibility to making referrals to each other?
– Should family justice system workers be required to follow up on cases to evaluate whether their information and referral systems are effective?
Why do you think Ontarians do not have access to the family justice information and referrals they need?
– Is it a question of capacity building or of willingness to engage in these activities?
– Is it a question of legal professionals not perceiving information dissemination and referrals to be a part of their job?
– Is it because workers are isolated and not in touch with other workers who may provide help to users?
– Is it because users lack resources to learn about or get to family justice system entry points?
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