Judicial Interviews with Children: Attitudes and Practices of Children's Lawyers in Canada
Date
2013
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Publisher
Ingenta Connect
Abstract
Children's lawyers in two Canadian provinces with different policies about the role of children's counsel in family cases were surveyed to explore and compare their experiences and attitudes about their role as counsel and about children meeting with a judge. The majority of lawyers acted as gatekeeepers, often preventing children from having a full range of choices about how to communicate with the court. Lawyers who adopt a traditional advocacy role as opposed to viewing themselves as best interest guardians are somewhat more likely to give their child clients an opportunity to meet the judge. In order to assist the decision-makers who are often making life-altering decisions about children and promote the rights of children, there should be more training and education of justice system professionals on how to support children who want this opportunity to meet with a judge.
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Citation
Birnbaum, R., Bala, N., & Bertrand, L. (2013). Judicial Interviews with Children: Attitudes and Practices of Children�s Lawyers in Canada. New Zealand Law Review, 465-482.