LEGAL REPORT: FAMILY LAW
Meaningful relationships through
Skype, e-mail, and videoconferencing are valuable tools to be employed in maintaining contact between children and non-custodial parents. BY ROBER T TODD
T
he rapid advancement in recent decades of communications tech- nology has forever changed how
humans interact. Millions of people across the globe now establish and maintain meaningful relationships with- out ever meeting face to face. So it's no surprise this shift has had an impact on family law. When it comes to visitation, online communication tools like Skype have made it easier for non-custodial parents to keep in touch with their chil-
dren, but courts have offered differing opinions on its ability to provide ade- quate contact between parent and child. That question has particular meaning
when a caregiver seeks to move a child far away from the other parent. Take the recent British Columbia Supreme Court case of ELC v. ESB. The mother, ELC, asked the court to give her custody of the couple's two children, aged 7 and 4, so they could move with her to Australia where her family lived. The father, ESB,
50 M ARCH 2010 www. C ANADIAN Law ye rmag.com technology
sought joint custody but agreed that the mother should provide the children's primary residence. ELC said the father could fly to see
the children, and vice versa, and they could communicate daily through online videoconferencing, according to the deci- sion of Justice Hope Hyslop. But the father opposed that idea, arguing "the children need emotional support of both of the parents and their presence," wrote Hyslop. The father alleged the children
JEFF SZUC
