The Social Work Department at the University of Calgary will use a 27 Million dollar grant to investigate what professional mediators already know.
“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.
“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.”