LEGAL REPORT/FAMILY LAW
Listening to children's voices
Some judges are starting to interview and meet directly with children in family law cases but the practice remains quite controversial. BY GRETCHEN DRUMMIE
their mouth washed out with soap for even broaching the idea of a judicial interview with the youngster. It hap-
G
one are the days when a family law judge would tell a child's counsel in a custody and access case that they should have
pened to Toronto family law lawyer Martha McCarthy in the early '90s. "I suggested a judicial interview with a child. The Children's Law Reform Act provides that a child's views and prefer- ences shall be taken into account to the extent they can be ascertained. I said to the judge, 'I'd like you to interview the
child,' and he said, 'I will not — and you should have your mouth washed out with soap for even suggesting it.'" Until recently it's been a no-no in
Ontario family law: judges talking directly to the children has been largely considered "politically incorrect; that is not the way we do things in Ontario,"
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