'Kids get traumatized': Calgary research looks to reduce stress in family law cases

University of Calgary's Dean of Faculty of Social Work, Ellen Perrault, is seen in an undated handout photo. The U of C has received a $26.8 million donation to look at ways to improve the family law process as a way of reducing stress on children. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-University of Calgary, Kloie Picot

The University of Calgary is embarking on a research project to remedy the long-standing concern that, for families, there is very little that's civil about civil courts.

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The university announced this week that it has received almost $27 million in funding from the Alberta Law Foundation to fund two research chairs and a Centre for Transformation.

Ellen Perrault, dean of the university’s faculty of social work, said her decade of experience as a child welfare worker reinforced that more needs to be done in the justice system for children already dealing with a lot at home.

"I know we can do better as a society," Perrault said in an interview.

"Kids get traumatized even further by their parents fighting, by the violence, by having parents who aren't able to negotiate, parents who have mental health issues ... those types of things.

“Those events that a child might witness create really long-lasting impacts."

A 2018 report from Justice Canada said family law cases accounted for 35 per cent of all civil cases in the country, with significant time and resources dedicated to custody and child support disputes.

The goal is to find a more nuanced collaborative approach.

"Let's say you've got a family that's going in front of a judge to determine a parenting agreement,” Perrault said.

“Why is it that a judge is making that decision and not an approach that's done way before, where the child has a say and the parents have a say and have the skills to be able to work it out?

"The idea is to create that positive change, so that the system can work with families to help build their resilience and skills earlier on, so the case doesn't end up in front of a judge."

Byron Chan, head of the Alberta Law Foundation, said the aim is to try not to make things worse by piling legal conflict on top of family strife.

"Family separation and divorce is listed as one of the 10 adverse childhood experiences. So that process itself ... is already resulting in trauma and adverse experiences," Chan said.

Legal proceedings, he said, “often involve the child being at the centre of a high conflict case between their two parents without a proper understanding of what is going on."

The research chairs and the Centre for Transformation are to work closely with the Re-Imagining the Family Justice System initiative in Grande Prairie.

Families in the city in northern Alberta are encouraged to consider the root causes of their disputes. The approach shifts family law cases from starting at the “dispute stage,” where each side is represented by lawyers.

The two chairs are to be in place at the university by July 1.

"It's not just a vision of a little fix to the justice system. We need to do this differently. We've got to reimagine it," Perrault said.

"It is a huge venture and there's going to be a lot of barriers and a lot of challenges, but I know we'll get there."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 8, 2025.