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From the Executive Director

We at the Institute have had a busy spring completing workshop presentations throughout the province for caregivers of children with disabilities. We extend our deep gratitude to Dr. Sally Rogow, who has directed the Person Within Project for the last four years.

We have also collaborated with Vancouver Custody and Access Support Association to conduct three workshops dealing with custody and access issues for advocates who work with women leaving abusive relationships in Prince George, Victoria and Castlegar. The workshop participants have identified many serious problems with the existing provisions of the Divorce Act and the Family Relations Act that fail to require a judge to consider the impact of exposure to family violence on the children in making a custody or access order. One issue particularly noted is the lack of supervised access centres in BC that ensure children who are required to visit violent parents can do so in safety.

Institute staff have also managed a large working group of Vancouver-Richmond Health Board health care professionals and community advocates to design and recommend a continuum of services for women and children who experience violence. A draft report on the progress of this project will be available in the fall.

The Institute hosted the newly created International Association of Forensic Mental Health Services' founding conference in Vancouver this past April. The Institute will continue to administer the membership database and website for the Association, which plans to hold the 2002 Conference in Munich, Germany. For information, please contact the Project Manager Tracey Moropito or consult the website at www.iafmhs.org.

In the area of law reform, we have participated in the federal consultations on proposals for the inclusion of family violence as a factor in determining child custody and access under the Divorce Act, as described elsewhere in this newsletter. We urge organizations to continue to press MPs and the Minister of Justice to include family violence in the Divorce Act reforms.

We have also participated in media discussions of cyberstalking and support the Minister of Justice's proposal to amend the Criminal Code to make it a crime for an individual to use the Internet to communicate with a child with the intention of committing a sexual offence.

We met with the new Minister of State for Women's Equality to urge her to support reforms to the criminal and civil justice system to assist women who are leaving abusive relationships and their children. And we continue to meet with Ministry of Children and Families child protection policy staff to develop policies and staff guidelines relating to working with women and children experiencing family violence.