We are excited to announce that Luke’s Place has recently completed a research project with funding from the federal Department of Justice that looks at family violence screening tools for family law practitioners. Many women are uncomfortable disclosing abuse in…
Family violence screening tools for family law practitioners
Posted in Legal news, Luke's Place activities, Research Tagged with: family law practitioner, lawyers, screening tools
How can a woman make the court understand the impact on her children of the abuse she has been subjected to?
We have explored a number of issues related to this question in other postings (See: The role of VAW in custody and access cases and What’s the best interests of the child test?), but we have not examined specifically the…
Posted in For service providers Tagged with: best interests of the child, children's exposure to abuse
“Gag orders”: Why sexual assault survivors can’t say #MeToo at some Canadian universities
Luke’s Place Legal Director, Pamela Cross, joins the discussion on universities’ sexual assault policies and protocols in an article on The Discourse. “These confidentiality orders go far beyond what privacy legislation would require,” agrees Pamela Cross, the legal director of…
Recent case: Rescinding child support arrears
Baxter v Beharry 2015 Carswell Ont 182. This decision, written by Justice Sherr of the Ontario Court of Justice, reviews the issue of when child support arrears should and should not be rescinded. The father had evaded his child support…
Pamela Cross New Co-chair for Ontario Roundtable on Violence Against Women
Luke’s Place is proud to announce that our Legal Director, Pamela Cross, is the new interim co-chair of the Ontario Roundtable on Violence Against Women. Pamela has been a member of the Roundtable since its inception in March 2015. The…
Posted in Current events, Luke's Place activities Tagged with: Pamela Cross, Roundtable on Violence Against Women, Sexual violence, violence against women
How can I accurately assess risks my client is facing from her former partner?
Your role as a woman’s advocate will require you to engage in safety planning with the women you support. Safety planning is, in some ways, the other side of risk assessment: the more information you have about the women’s risk,…
Enough mourning: We need action!
Fifteen women, their mothers and their children have been killed in Ontario by intimate partners or family members since January 2018. This is more than the yearly average. Holly Hamilton, 29, Hamilton Baljit Thandi, 32, Brampton Avtar Kaur, 60, Brampton…
Posted in Current events, Luke's Place activities Tagged with: domestic violenc homicide, domestic violence, femicide
What should I do if a woman tells me she plans to violate the custody order because she has serious concerns for the safety of the child?
When facing legal and ethical challenges, there are a variety of strategies that will help service providers manage the situation. Here are some other situations that could raise similar legal and ethical challenges: A client or former client calls to…
Recent case: Parental alienation
L.(N.) v M. (R.R.) 2016 ONSC 809: In this case, the police refused to enforce a court order to deliver a child, now over the age of 16, to his father, when the child was refusing to have contact with…
Posted in Case law Tagged with: court orders to enforce access, L.(N.) v M. (R.R.), parental alienation
What is financial abuse?
You may have been subjected to financial abuse during your relationship, and it may be continuing now that you have left. This kind of abuse is common, and can take many forms, including: Your partner controls the money and makes…
Posted in For service providers, For women, Frequently asked questions Tagged with: financial abuse, post separation violence
