Justice Canada - Family Justice Outreach Initiative

Consensus Mediation Center (CMC)and Éducaloi are collaborating with the Community Health and Social Services Network (CHSSN)to implement a "Family in Transition" project that is being subsidized by Justice Canada.A formal agreement has been signed and the three organizationa have been coordinating their efforts since February, 2007 in an effort to complete the project by March, 2008. The project will address the needs of the official language minority community (English) in Quebec with respect to the family justice system. It will provide legal and psychosocial information on parenting arrangements, child support, and support enforcement to English-speaking parents and their community support networks. It will also provide conflict resolution tools that parents and their community support networks can use to resolve disputes related to parenting arrangements and child support obligations. Consensus will also provide a follow up service to families in outlying area that will be made available after the project officially ends. Based on the results of a survey carried out by the three organizations, a booklet (approx 60 pages) will be drafted incorporating the most up-to-date information on the needs of English speaking parents going through transition. Finally, the project, using this information, will make use of a new means of communication—videoconferencing technology— to efficiently reach out to English-speaking communities located in small towns and rural areas. Instead of visiting each community, the videoconferencing technology of the CHSSN’s Telehealth Program will be used to broadcast information session on parenting arrangements and child support from Montreal to three remote English-speaking communities at the same time. The communities to be targeted are the East End of the Island of Montreal, the Gapé, the Eatern Townships and the Lower North Shore. A formal evaluation of the work accomplished wil be undertaken and recommendations will be made with regards to follow up services.