THE CHILD-CENTRED FAMILY LAW STRATEGY SUMMATIVE EVALUATION Final Report June 2008 Evaluation Division Office of Strategic Planning and Performance Management TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................... 1 1.1. Context and Purpose of the Summative Evaluation ......................................................... 1 1.2. Organization of the Report................................................................................................ 2 2. BACKGROUND AND DESCRIPTION OF THE STRATEGY........................................ 3 2.1. Issues and Trends in Families........................................................................................... 3 2.2. Family Law and Family Justice Activities in Canada ...................................................... 5 2.3. Description of the Child-centred Family Law Strategy.................................................... 6 2.3.1. Pillars of the Strategy.............................................................................................. 7 2.3.2. CCFLS Governance, Structure and Activities........................................................ 8 2.3.3. Provincial/Territorial Involvement ....................................................................... 10 3. EVALUATION METHODOLOGY ................................................................................... 13 3.1. Evaluation Objectives ..................................................................................................... 13 3.2. Research Design and Activities ...................................................................................... 13 3.3. Methodological Challenges and Limitations .................................................................. 15 3.3.1. Evaluation of a Strategy with Multiple Components............................................ 15 3.3.2. Attribution of Outcomes ....................................................................................... 16 3.3.3. Information Gaps and Data Limitations ............................................................... 16 4. RELEVANCE OF THE STRATEGY ................................................................................ 19 4.1. Relevance of Objectives ................................................................................................. 19 4.2. Role of the Federal Government..................................................................................... 21 4.3. Observations and Conclusions........................................................................................ 22 5. IMPLEMENTATION .......................................................................................................... 23 5.1. Design and Delivery ....................................................................................................... 23 5.2. Performance Measurement ............................................................................................. 26 5.3. Financial Resources ........................................................................................................ 29 5.4. Observations and Conclusions........................................................................................ 31 Evaluation Division 6. ACHIEVEMENT OF OBJECTIVES................................................................................. 33 6.1. Needs and Best Interests of the Children........................................................................ 33 6.1.1. Observations and Conclusions.............................................................................. 39 6.2. Direct Outcomes of the Strategy..................................................................................... 40 6.2.1. Observations and Conclusions.............................................................................. 44 6.3. Child Support and Support Enforcement........................................................................ 44 6.3.1. Observations and Conclusions.............................................................................. 49 6.4. International Activities.................................................................................................... 49 6.4.1. Observations and Conclusions.............................................................................. 52 6.5. Information, Communication and Research ................................................................... 52 6.5.1. Observations and Conclusions.............................................................................. 59 6.6. Lessons Learned.............................................................................................................. 59 7. COST EFFECTIVENESS.................................................................................................... 63 8. KEY FINDINGS, RECOMMENDATIONS AND MANAGEMENT RESPONSE ....... 65 ii EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1. Introduction The Child-Centred Family Justice Strategy1 (CCFLS or the Strategy) is a five-year initiative introduced in 2003 and scheduled to sunset March 31, 2008. Over the past two decades several successive initiatives were launched by the Department of Justice in the area of family law that were designed to assist and work in collaboration with the provinces/territories in creating and enhancing family law policies and services. The CCFLS represents ongoing efforts in this area and builds on experiences and successes of preceding programs and initiatives. The broad policy objective of the Strategy is to help develop and maintain a child-centered family justice system that: • minimizes the potentially negative impact of separation and divorce on children; • provides parents with the tools they need to reach parenting arrangements that are in the child’s best interests; and • ensures that the legal process is less adversarial with only the most difficult cases going to court.2 Family law in Canada is an area of shared jurisdiction between the federal and provincial/territorial governments. The Strategy is implemented by the Family, Children and Youth (FCY) Section of the Department of Justice through six units that work collaboratively to support the CCFLS. The FCY Section is responsible for legislative reform and administration of the Child-centred Family Justice Fund (CCFJF), while the provinces/territories are responsible 1 The original title for this initiative was the "The Child-centred Family Law Strategy". It changed to "Child- centred Family Justice Strategy (CCFJS)" in 2003 to better reflect all activities of the initiative, such as funding to the provinces and territories, communications, public legal education, research, etc., and not just amendments to the law. All the formal documentation refers to the Strategy as CCFLS, which will be used throughout this report. 2 Justice Canada (2004). Results-based Management and Accountability Framework for the Unified Family Courts. i Evaluation Division for family law matters other than divorce and property, and design and delivery of family justice services are within their respective jurisdictions. The FCY Section has five main areas of activity to support the Strategy, including: • Family law, • Support enforcement, • Program Development (grants and contributions), • Law information and professional training, and • Research and evaluation. In order to meet Treasury Board Secretariat requirements, the FCY Section was to complete a summative evaluation of the CCFLS. The evaluation relied on multiple lines of evidence, both quantitative and qualitative, including surveys, interviews and focus groups as well as existing data sources, documentation and literature. The following presents the key highlights of the results of the Summative Evaluation of the Child-centered Family Law Strategy (CCFLS) conducted in 2007 on behalf of the Department of Justice. 2. Relevance The three broad objectives of the CCFLS continue to be relevant, although there are emergent areas that require better understanding and/or supports. The objectives stated above are important to maintaining an accessible and client-centred family justice system in Canada, although how the objectives are attained may change to reflect changes in the issues facing separating or divorcing families. In general, Canadian families have become less stable with married couples separating or divorcing earlier and common-law relationships, which tend to be shorter in duration than marriages, becoming more prevalent.3 According to the 2006 census, the number of common- law-couple families increased more than five times faster than married-couple families when 3 Statistics Canada (2007). Navigating Family Transitions: Evidence from the General Social Survey (Cycle 20). ii The Child-Centred Family Law Strategy Summative Evaluation compared to previous census results.4 Between 2001 and 2006, approximately 2.0 million Canadians ended a marriage or common-law relationship.5 Recently, discussions in the media and academic journals revolving around the best interest of the child principle have increasingly included adoption cases and same-sex couples as parents, as well as the increasing number of custody decisions where judges award joint custody in terms of legal decision-making.6 Increasing cultural representation within Canadian society as well as families with blended cultural backgrounds creates additional pressures on the family justice system in terms of resolution. These issues, among others, were noted by members of the