Open main menu

Clicklaw Wikibooks β

Changes

The Rights of Children and Youth in Family Law Matters

1,578 bytes added, 16:46, 10 April 2021
Making decisions that are in children's best interests
<blockquote><tt>(i) the appropriateness of an arrangement that would require the child's guardians to cooperate on issues affecting the child, including whether requiring cooperation would increase any risks to the safety, security or well-being of the child or other family members;</tt></blockquote>
<blockquote><tt>(j) any civil or criminal proceeding relevant to the child's safety, security or well-being.</tt></blockquote>
 
Section 37(3) also says that:
 
<blockquote><tt>An agreement or order is not in the best interests of a child unless it protects, to the greatest extent possible, the child's physical, psychological and emotional safety, security and well-being.</tt></blockquote>
 
Like the ''Divorce Act'', the ''Family Law Act'' provides a few additional factors that judges &mdash; just judges &mdash; must consider to help them assess the impact of family violence under section 37(2)(g) and (h). These factors are provided in section 38:
 
<blockquote><tt>(a) the nature and seriousness of the family violence;</tt></blockquote>
<blockquote><tt>(b) how recently the family violence occurred;</tt></blockquote>
<blockquote><tt>(c) the frequency of the family violence;</tt></blockquote>
<blockquote><tt>(d) whether any psychological or emotional abuse constitutes, or is evidence of, a pattern of coercive and controlling behaviour directed at a family member;</tt></blockquote>
<blockquote><tt>(e) whether the family violence was directed toward the child;</tt></blockquote>
<blockquote><tt>(f) whether the child was exposed to family violence that was not directed toward the child;</tt></blockquote>
<blockquote><tt>(g) the harm to the child's physical, psychological and emotional safety, security and well-being as a result of the family violence;</tt></blockquote>
<blockquote><tt>(h) any steps the person responsible for the family violence has taken to prevent further family violence from occurring;</tt></blockquote>
<blockquote><tt>(i) any other relevant matter.</tt></blockquote>
===Children in court===