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An Interview with Vancouver Lawyer Ruth Lea Taylor

Ruth Lea Taylor, a Vancouver lawyer with twenty years' experience representing women whose children have experienced abuse or witnessed domestic violence, explains the difficulties a parent faces in addressing issues related to custody and access within the legal system.

Taylor: The biggest problem I've had is the circular nature of the whole thing. ...I get a custody order, I get the access order...The child comes home [from an access visit] with what appears [to be] a sexually caused injury. The mother ...goes to a social worker or the police... It's amazing the amount of times that neither the police nor the child protection agencies are willing to get involved if you happen to be divorced or separated from the other parent. ...suddenly it's a family law matter. ...Everybody hates family law. ...I then go to court to suspend access. When the child is hurt I have a doctor's certificate, I have all the necessary collaboration, and the court says, "Well, isn't this funny. It's come up during a custody dispute." And I keep having to say, "No, there's no dispute ...until this happened." And then the court is suspicious because there's a dispute, and they question the veracity of the thing that caused us to be back in court again by saying there's a custody or access dispute... when there really isn't one. [Sexual abuse allegations] are almost impossible to prove in court. ...It's gotten so bad that lawyers are advising their clients not to report it. [However] you have to report it to the police ... and to the social worker...I think every professional has a duty to do that. [So then there is a criminal investigation and] you go into family court ... because you want to terminate access as quickly as possible to protect your child. [However] one court never knows what's going on in the other until somebody shows it to the court. They don't work together. In fact, the system doesn't work together at all, as far as I'm concerned. ...You have to present either a psychologist's report saying the children have been damaged by witnessing violence, or by arguing that there is harm to the children just by ... witnessing. ... I am a great believer that [BC would benefit from adopting legislation that formally addresses children witnessing violence.] ...I want the judicial system to be forced into thinking about [children who witness violence.]
Taylor: [Regarding proof of allegations of witnessing violence,] ...[judges] only know ... what's in the affidavits...there's very few witnesses. I will use counselling evidence where I can get it. I think the best thing a woman can do is lay a [criminal] charge because...I [then] go into [family] court [prior to the criminal trial] and say the police thought [enough] of this matter to have laid a charge. [In the criminal trial] there [may not be] sufficient evidence to [convict] because you need to prove [the allegations] beyond a reasonable doubt.

BCIFV: Are children's accounts of abuse, either witnessing or directly experiencing, ever taken into account in custody and access determination?

Taylor: ...It will likely mean that the court orders somebody else to [conduct an assessment.] ...One of the hardest things is fly in the face of [the recommendations of a court ordered assessment] ...[to] try and have the reports set aside or undermine them. ...I think the system... is lending itself to more warring [of experts.]

BCIFV: ... what sorts of dilemmas [do] you see person ...experiencing who might want to bring to light accusations of abuse...?

Taylor: I actually think...a parent has an obligation to bring it to light, keeping it always in mind that protecting your child is your [duty]. I am just concerned how the legal system accepts that, because ... the legal system is adversarial so that everything is seen as one person is lying and one person isn't. ...We can't [go] back ...[to] where nobody talked about [abuse]....What you do is you ensure that the paper trail there, that somebody besides yourself [knows the circumstances of the allegations of abuse.] ...When the lid blew off, 20 years ago or so...the system wasn't ready for the numbers.... [The system believed] it can't be true that this many women are beaten up in their homes; it can't be true that this many children are sexually abused.