How Do I Get a Needs of the Child Assessment?

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Needs of the child assessments[edit]

Under section 37(1) of the Family Law Act, when the court or the parties are making orders or agreements about guardianship, parenting arrangements, or contact with a child, the parties and the court must consider the best interests of the child only. Disagreements often arise around what's best when it comes to these decisions. In some cases, it can help to get the opinion of a neutral third party. Under section 211 of the act, the court can appoint a person, typically a psychologist, clinical counsellor, or social worker, to assess one or more of:

  • the needs of a child in relation to a family law dispute,
  • the views of a child in relation to a family law dispute, or
  • the ability and willingness of a party to a family law dispute to satisfy the needs of a child.

The report itself is called a needs of the child assessment. You might also hear the report called a section 211 report. It will provide a summary of what the professional has learned about the family, as well as the professional's opinion about what is in the best interests of the children. (Under the old Family Relations Act, these reports were called section 15 reports or custody and access reports.)

The professional appointed to prepare the report will usually:

  • interview the child's parents or guardians
  • interview the children, depending on their age and maturity,
  • observe each parent or guardian interacting with and parenting the children;
  • administer personality and parenting tests to the parents,
  • read any reports that are available about the children's medical and mental health, and
  • interview a few people who know the family and the children.

Needs of the child assessments are intended to be neutral and are generally done by a professional who has no previous connection with the parties. They are evaluative because the professional is providing their expert opinion about the parents or guardians, the children, and the arrangements that are best for the children.

What the professional does in each individual case will depend on the circumstances and the sort of report they have been asked to write. There is no fixed protocol or explicit checklist that must be followed, and the author is expected to use their education and experience when deciding what tests, interviews, or studies to conduct. These reports are not expected to be exhaustive. Whatever conclusions the author arrives at are for the purpose of helping the court decide what is in a child's best interests.

Needs of the child assessments can be very helpful in resolving a dispute about the care of children. The court will usually give a great deal of weight to the assessor's opinion and recommendations.

Picking the assessor[edit]

Needs of the child assessments are routinely prepared by family justice counsellors, social workers, registered clinical counsellors, and psychologists.

Family justice counsellor reports[edit]

Family justice counsellors are public employees. Their reports are free as part of the Family Justice Report Service, but they are in very high demand and there is usually a long delay. The only way to be referred to the service is by court order. Once the Family Justice Report Service receives both a copy of the court order and the referral form from the court registry, the report will be placed on a list for assignment to a qualified family justice counsellor. FYou cannot pick the family justice counsellor who will prepare your report.

Not all family justice counsellors are trained to prepare full needs of the child assessments, so the delay between requesting a report to getting it done might be up to a year. You can call the Family Justice Report Service at 778-360-2052 or find a Family Justice Centre near you to learn more about the service. Typically, it takes anywhere from 5-9 months to have a report writer assigned, and this is from the time the office receives the court ordered request for a needs of the child assessment. It can take another two or three months after that for the report writer to conduct the report.

Private reports[edit]

As an alternative, you can pay for a report to be prepared by a social worker, clinical counsellor, or psychologist. These can generally be done much faster, but they come at a higher cost. The fees for a full report prepared by a psychologist typically costs $15,000 or even $30,000, depending on the number of children involved, where the children and the parents or guardians live, and the amount of work that needs to be done (including whether the writer needs to come to court).

To find a professional to prepare a needs of the child assessment, you can:

  • ask for a referral from a psychologist or counsellor you know,
  • get a recommendation from your lawyer,
  • read through some of these cases on CanLII which contain the names of professionals who have prepared these reports for court, or
  • contact the Canadian Register of Health Service Psychologists for a referral.

The private assessor either needs to be agreed upon by all parties or appointed by court order if the parties cannot agree.

Arranging for the assessment[edit]

The parties can agree that a needs of the child assessment will be prepared. They then need to pick someone to prepare it.

If they can't agree, either party can apply to court for an order that an assessment be prepared. If you have to apply to court for such an order, make sure that you do your homework before going to court so that you can tell the judge what kind of assessment you want, who you think should prepare it, how much the cost will be, and when it can be completed. The order will usually specify who is being retained to prepare the assessment as well as how the assessment will be paid for.

Once an assessment is ordered or agreed to, you should get in touch with the person who will be performing the assessment. The assessor will tell you what happens next, when the interviewing process will begin, and when the completed assessment will likely be ready.

More information[edit]

You can find more information about needs of the child assessments in the chapter Children in Family Law Matters. For more information about family justice counsellors and the Family Justice Report Service, contact a Family Justice Centre close to you. The Clicklaw website maintains an online list of locations.

Rise Women's Legal Centre publishes informative resources about s. 211 reports:

This information applies to British Columbia, Canada. Last reviewed for legal accuracy by Julie Brown, September 21, 2023.


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