How Do I Get a Needs of the Child Assessment?

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Needs of the child assessments[edit]

Where decisions about children are concerned, the question for parents and courts is "What is in the best interests of the child?" Obviously, disagreements can arise around what's best when it comes to guardianship, parenting arrangements, or who has contact with a child. Section 37(2) of the Family Law act contains more specifics about the factors this consideration involves. In some cases, a neutral third party is needed to provide objectivity. Under s. 211, the court can appoint a person to assess one or more of:

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

Reports of the first kind are called needs of the child assessments. You might also hear them called section 211 reports. Under the old Family Relations Act these reports were called section 15 reports or custody and access reports. These reports can be very helpful in resolving a dispute about the care of children. A court will usually give a great deal of weight to the assessor's opinion and recommendations. The neutrality of these reports is a very important standard.

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 counsellors are employees of the Ministry of Justice based in registries of the Provincial Court. Their reports are free, but because there is such a high demand for these reports and there are so few family justice counsellors who are trained to prepare them, the delay from requesting a report to getting it done might be up to a year.

In general, private reports prepared by qualified psychologists can be done faster, but they come at a cost. The fees for reports prepared by psychologists typically range between $8,000 and $16,000, depending on the number of children involved, and the amount of work that needs to be done.

Arranging for the assessment[edit]

The parties can agree that a needs of the child assessment will be prepared, and agree who should do the assessment, but if they can't agree, an application can be made 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 beforehand. You want to be able to tell the judge who you think should prepare the report, the anticipated costs involved, and the availability of the report writer. The order will usually specify who is being retained to prepare the report. The order can also specify how the report 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.

You can find more information about needs of the child assessments in the chapter Children in Family Law Matters.


This information applies to British Columbia, Canada. Last reviewed for legal accuracy by Inga Phillips, July 12, 2017.


JP Boyd on Family Law © John-Paul Boyd and Courthouse Libraries BC is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 Canada Licence.