The child is not only someone who has to be protected, but someone who has a right to respect and consideration of his or her own dignity.
How do lawyers and judges hear the views of children in family courts? What are the skills necessary to make this happen?
These questions will be answerd in two courses the International Institute for Child Rights and Development (IICRD) and the Continuing Legal Education Society of BC (CLEBC) will run November 18-20, 2009 in Vancouver, Canada on children's participation in family justice processes.
The "Hear the Child" and "The Child Interview Process"courses evolved from the international ACLEA award-winning course on children's participation first held in 2007 as part of IICRD's Hear the Child project and will be chaired by Suzanne Williams, IICRD's Legal Director.
Featured faculty at this year's courses include
- Dr. Joan Kelly,
- Madam Justice Donna Martinson (Retired),
- Judge Nancy Phillips,
- Judge R. Gallagher,
- Trudi Brown,
- Ronald Smith,
- John-Paul Boyd,
- Dr. Robert Colby,
- Cori McGuire
- as well as representatives from BC's Ministry of the Attorney General and Ministry of Children and Family Development.