Presumption of Equal Parenting
It is surprising to learn that when parents separate, they are not automatically given equal rights and responsibilities under the law. Most of the issues with respect to money are handled by equitable splits of assets and expenses. But if the parents don’t agree on equal custody before they get to court each side is represented by an an expensive lawyer and a battle ensues to prove who is the more worthy parent or even worse to be suddenly forced to defend that you are a competent parent. In some cases there are quick settlements, but these are often reached after the family law industry have left years of legal bills.
This adversarial court system pits parents against each other in a battle over who retains custodial rights in their child’s life and regardless of who "wins", the children lose. The results are a transfer of wealth from the families, and ultimately the kids, to the lawyers.
Mental health issues frequently result for all the participants including children, which have far reaching implications for our society.
Numerous studies have shown that growing up without access to one parent, usually the father in our society, is a stronger indicator of a child’s poor development (emotional problems, anxieties, behavioral problems, learning disabilities, truancy, runaways, teen-age pregnancy, drug abuse, criminality, mental illness, suicide, etc.) than both income and race.
I support the modification of our Divorce Act to include Presumptive Equal Parenting
This means that once a couple separates, they are considered equal parents under the law and automatically have equal rights and responsibilities. Court battles would not be necessary in the majority of cases. Court fights would be replaced by mandatory mediation. Family courthouses would be turned into mediation centers. The expensive services of Family Law Lawyers would only be required in the most extreme cases.
Equal Parenting reduces domestic violence, conflict, and false allegations of abuse, would stop the massive transfer of wealth from children’s standard of living into lawyers’ and other disabling professionals’ pockets, and continues the pre-divorce advantages for children of having both parents fully involved with their lives. Equal Parenting also reduces non-compliance with child support orders, which would serve to unburden the court system.
A poll commissioned in 2007 and conducted by SES Research found that out of 1000 people polled, 79.1% indicated that they strongly support or somewhat support the introduction of legislation to create a presumption of equal parenting in child custody cases.
Equal parenting is an idea whose time has come! Children need and deserve both parents in their lives. Elizabeth May and I feel strongly that Social Justice and Equality begins in the Home.
Several of our members have had the opportunity to speak to Elizabeth May about his important issue face to face.
"Yesterday, the F4J Independant Candidate in Laurier-Sainte-Marie,
Daniel F4J Laforest has an interview of 10 minutes with the Green Party
Chief, Ms. May at the central station of Montreal.
She said that the actual Family Justice laws need to be review to stop
the war between parents after seperation/divorce."
Except from an email - 2006
On Saturday October 14, 2006 I had the pleasure of being the "chauffeur" for Elizabeth May, Leader of the Green Party of Canada, from Toronto to Newmarket where she gave the keynote speech at the Local Electoral District Association Annual General Meeting. During our conversation in the car about various political issues the conversation moved to Equal Parenting.
Elizabeth told me about her own personal situation. She is a lawyer and despite her apprehensions she had helped out a friend in her law firm. Elizabeth specialized in administrative and litigation, but it was a big firm and once she agreed to cover for a friend in the family law area. She really did not like this area of law and usually sent clients away to mediation or a minister to seek help to work out the problem.
These negative experiences were very influential when her marriage began to break down. She did not want to get lawyers involved as she knew it would lead to no good. She came to an amicable agreement with her ex-husband. They worked on the basis of mutual trust -- even when it was hard to trust each other. They came to an arrangement where he could visit Elizabeth and their daughter in Ottawa when ever he wanted. He still maintains a room in that house and spends Christmas with them every year. The arrangement is also reciprocal as Elizabeth also uses his residence when she is in Toronto (in fact that is where I picked her up on Saturday morning).
In talking about the problems of the current adversarial system Elizabeth came out and said the problem is Lawyers and the fact that they encourage conflict to earn more money. I actually broke out laughing as I was trying to dance around the issue of Lawyers as I knew Elizabeth was one.
She read over my resolution that I had tried to get passed at the GPC convention in August (she was actually very busy with the media and the
leadership race and understandably was not involved with many of the policy sessions). She thought it was fine the way it was. When I explained about how it was defeated by people turning it into a domestic violence issue she pointed out that I had that base covered with the exceptions to the presumption (EXACTLY!!). Her main shift in approach would be to name and address the fundamental problem in family law -- the adversarial system.
We then talked about the path forward. She wants this to become Policy of the Green Party because as she said ... "It is the right thing to do!". She understands the issue and the logic of presumptive Equal parenting being Just. "There is no peace without Justice".
In a subsequent email...
"One more important Thing I forgot ... Elizabeth approved and edited this message before I sent it and she actually added extra sentences to more forcefully make her point and make it clear that she unequivocally supports EP and that she lays the blame at the adversarial system. "
In an online article, "Divorce takes a holiday"
When Elizabeth May, leader of the federal Green Party, split from her husband, Ian Burton, a Toronto climate scientist, 14 years ago, their daughter, Victoria, was two. Right from the start, May says, the pair decided they were not going to be "the typical divorced couple." Experience with previous marital splits convinced them that "lots of things were wrong for the kids" in conventional divided-family arrangements. Among them, the death of the family vacation.
All the same, May admits she was skeptical when the trio embarked on their first post-split trip, to visit Burton's relatives in Great Britain when Victoria was six. By the end of the two weeks, though, she was convinced. "I first was just going through the motions for my daughter. But to my surprise, I had a fantastic time."
Ever since, the erstwhile family has headed someplace warm every March Break, rented a cottage together near Sandbanks Provincial Park in Ontario for a long weekend every spring, taken some European vacations and spent two weeks or a month, en famille, at May's family home in Cape Breton, N.S.
While both May and Burton have been romantically involved with others in the meantime, the outsiders are always apprised of the holidaying arrangement upfront. "We always explain to the other potential partners how important the family vacation is," May says.
The HERO designation for Liz may be short lived.
Although Ms. May has been very vocal to 'our' advocates, she has been very careful not to give us any written support for the cause of equal parenting.
See here the Green's 2007 policy:
9. Striving for justice
a) Reforming the Divorce Act
Many Canadian couples experience a marriage or partnership breakdown. For those who enter the world of court-resolved divorce and child care disputes, years of unhappiness can follow. Increasingly, the non-custodial parent lacks meaningful access to his or her children. Grandparents can also be cut off.
There are no winners in these cases and children are the primary victims.
Our Vision
A society where the suffering of children, grandparents and former spouses does not block the courts and enrich lawyers.
Green Solutions
To avoid children being treated like the spoils of war, the Green Party believes the Divorce Act must be over-hauled. We will launch a consultation with Canadians, with the legal community, family therapists and other experts to seek ways to reduce, and preferably eliminate, the adversarial nature of family law.
The Green Party current platform
10) Striving for Justice
a) Reforming the Divorce act.
Many Canadian couples experience a marriage or partnership breakdown. For those who enter the world of court-resolved divorce and child care disputes, years of unhappiness can follow. Increasingly, the non-custodial parent lacks meaningful access to his or her children. Grandparents can also be cut off.
There are no winners in these cases and children are the primary victims.
Our Vision
A society where the suffering of children, grandparents and former spouses does not block the courts and enrich lawyers.
Green Solutions
To avoid children being treated like the spoils of war, the Green Party believes the Divorce Act must be over-hauled. We will launch a consultation with Canadians, with the legal community, family therapists and other experts to seek ways to reduce, and preferably eliminate, the adversarial nature of family law.
So, again, we have several concerns.
1) There have been years and years of consultation already. The time has come to Act.
2) There is no mention of having consultation with parents and children, the real stakeholders in our family law system.
3) There is still no mention of presumptive equal parenting, despite indications that Ms. May supports this.
The Green Party needs to take a stronger stand on equality rights for parents, after all ...
Parents don't grow on trees!
