RFJS Actions and Outcomes The RFJS initiative is designed to assist families as they restructure. We have adopted new language to replace concepts of breaking up and to instead think of this as the restructuring of a family. The RFJS shifts the focus away from legal adversarial processes, to family supports that will build resilience and avoid the harm typically associated with separation and divorce. Our understanding of the brain science evidence known as Adverse Childhood Experiences tells us that Separation and Divorce is an Adverse Childhood Experience, and that 1) we need to change the way that our justice system approaches separation and divorce so that the system does not contribute to the toxic stress and damage that has been associated with separation and divorce, and 2) we need to ensure supports are in place to support families with the non-legal issues that arise upon separation and divorce. These are the social, relationship, parenting and financial supports that will help families to thrive, even while they are undergoing the restructuring of separation and divorce. 1
The RFJS has been very busy with a number of significant activities that are helping to create concrete changes within the justice system, and identifying the connections to the supports that families need: - The Court of Queen s Bench has adopted the RFJS Theory of Change in its Strategic Plan for 2016-2021, and tasked the Court s Access to Justice Steering Committee with helping to embed the Theory of Change and align the Court s programs and processes. Chief Justice Moreau has identified the RFJS as a key priority for the Court, and two Facilitated Sessions have been held with leaders of the Court. The direction the Court has identified from the recent January 2018 session includes: writing a message for the Court s external website which explains that only legal matters should be brought in to family court processes developing a pilot that will focus on assisting family litigants to limit the adversarial processes they engage in, and to seek supports to assist them to address their family issues outside of the courts and adversarial processes engaging with Resolution Services and community supports (specifically in the County of Strathcona) in the pilot described below. - Alberta Justice and Solicitor General, Resolutions Services is planning a pilot to refocus the work of Resolution Services staff as "justice system navigators". These staff will be trained in brain science, and will develop maps of community services that will assist families with their non-legal needs. The pilot will allow for partnership with community (County of Strathcona Family and Community Support Services (FCSS) and Parent Link organizations). If the pilot is successful, the approach may be expanded more broadly. - Brain Science as the foundation for family decisions. Knowledge of brain science, adverse childhood experiences and resilience, are at the heart of the RFJS and we have been working to increase education of everyone in the family justice system including judges, lawyers, frontline service providers and families. (We are relying primarily on the Alberta Family Wellness Initiative (AFWI) Online Certification program: https://www.albertafamilywellness.org/training ) The RFJS has developed a strong relationship with AFWI, including that Diana Lowe has appeared in one of their online videos to promote education about brain science as part of the RFJS (see online at the link above) Diana chaired and presented at a one-day LESA Seminar on Understanding the Brain, which included a half-day introduction to Brain Science by the Research Director of the AFWI The Court of Queen s Bench judicial education seminar in September 2017 included a presentation on brain science by Dr. Nicole Sherren, the Scientific Director and Senior Program officer with the Palix Foundation The pilot being developed by Resolution Services includes education for the new Justice System Navigator role in brain science and trauma informed care Justice Andrea Moen and Diana Lowe have published articles about the RFJS approach to family wellness in both the 2017 and 2018 issues of the Divorce Magazine ( https://www.canadadivorcemagazine.com/ ) and are the keynote speakers at the Divorce Symposiums being held in Edmonton on March 24, 2018 and in Calgary on May 2
26, 2018 (https://www.divorcesymposium.ca/ ). These are opportunities to share information directly with the public about brain science, resilience and the supports available to help ensure their families thrive even as they restructure. Local and national media has also become interested in running stories about both the Symposium and the RFJS, which will help to get the message out to the public. We have a joint agreement with the AFWI to develop a public campaign to help families understand the impact of toxic stress on their children s healthy development, the supports that are available to families, and to encourage an approach to family restructuring that will help families thrive. We are also seeking to engage in crucial conversations with the legal profession about the need for family lawyers to be familiar with brain science. - Alberta Unified Family Court - the joint proposal that was submitted to the Federal Minister of Justice in July 2017 by Alberta (Ministry of Justice and Solicitor General, Provincial Court and Court of Queen's Bench) embedded the RFJS Theory of Change. This approach supports the use of services to assist families in Alberta to access supports they need to help develop resilience, and to resolve any disputes away from the adversarial processes of courts as much as possible. - Enhanced Early Resolution Services Project (EERS) is a Ministry project to increase access to mediation. The first phase of this project is on facilitative family mediation, and the RFJS Theory of Change informs this work. - Cross-Ministry / Cross-Sector efforts including work with the AFWI and the Science Policy Planning Network (SPPN). The Network is currently focused on preparing a report documenting ACEs informed policy, programs and research, and convening an ACEs meeting for policy leaders across many disciplines on June 11, 2018. The RFJS will be highlighted as an initiative that is promoting the prevention of ACEs arising out of separation, divorce and unresolved family disputes. - The RFJS has been working to develop awareness among the natural supports for families, including in the Faith-based community. We have introduced the RFJS Theory of Change to faith-based groups, and encouraged them to provide the kinds of supports that families need while they are restructuring. There is a growing recognition among faith-based groups about the support that they can provide to assist families as they restructure, which will help to create the resilience that families need to thrive. - Exploration of technological applications, such as the CoParenter app, which will provide tools for parents that include communication, a shared calendar, coaching, online dispute resolution, and a database providing improved access to community services. https://www.coparenter.com/ - Legal Education Society (LESA) Family Law Refresher in 2019 will focus on the shift in culture that is occurring through the RFJS, and how that will impact the practice of family law. 3
Ambassadors for Change: Our Developmental Evaluation coach, Mark Cabaj, observed that the RFJS is best understood as an alignment network, which works to achieve outcomes through increased awareness and understanding of the Theory of Change across broad social networks, and encouraging alignment through changes in behaviour, policy and practices. This is in contrast to a production network which is resourced to create programs and services. The Coconvenors adopted the alignment network approach in the spring of 2017. This has led us to pursue conversations and meetings through what we re calling Ambassadors for Change ; reaching out to our networks to encourage understanding, adoption and alignment with our Theory of Change. This has included reaching out to: Faith-based work with the Ishmaili Community, All Saints Anglican Cathedral and the Phoenix Society Edmonton Law Library Association Collaborative Family Professionals First 2000 Days Network (early childhood development) Parent CAFÉ (early childhood development) ADRIA and ADR Symposium (May 2018) United Way, Edmonton Community Mental Health Action Plan Valuing Mental Health ACES Task Group BC ACEs Summit (Diana Lowe presented about the RFJS on a panel) Families First Society (Fort Saskatchewan) Dr. Deborah Saucier (President of Grant MacEwan University) Mayor Iveson (Edmonton) Mayor Nenshi (Calgary) meeting requested The Honourable Anne McLellan Strathcona County FCSS, Bree Claude, Michelle Jehn and Lori Prediger Ministry of Children s Services, Kesa Shikaze Early Childhood Development Support Services (Line Perron, Executive Director) School of Human Ecology (U of A) Sexual Assault Centre of Edmonton Alberta Parks, Recreation opportunities to support family wellness (Jessica Spina and Brian Joubert) Family Lawyers / law firms: Duncan and Craig LLP; Venture Law Group Aspire Legal Innovation (U of C Legal Incubator) Alberta Law Foundation Chair, Darlene Scott, QC Children, Youth and Families Executive Directors (CYFED) Connections First Policy Fellowship, has been launched to research the creation of natural supports for children and families Canadian Mental Health Association Understanding Integrated Youth Services & the Alberta Context Allies for Youth Connection Conference (Panel in May 2018) Law Society Benchers (Panel on Change in June 2018) 4
The Ambassadors for Change approach can be used by all Collaborators to expand the reach of our networks of networks by speaking about the goals of the RFJS to other organizations, communities and networks. Outcomes Harvest: We ve been working with Mark Cabaj on an Outcomes Harvest, which we will share with Collaborators for input and any additional outcomes. By outcomes we mean a change in the behavior, relationships, actions, activities, policies, or practices of an individual, group, community, organization, or situation. 1 We identify the outcomes as occurring at three levels landscape, regime and niche innovation - as described by Frank Geels in his Multi-level Framework on sustainability transitions. 2 1 Wilson-Grau, Ricardo and Heather Britt. Outcome Harvesting. Ford Foundation. May 2012 (Revised November 2013), at p. 1. 2 Visual created and shared with us by our Developmental Evaluation coach, Mark Cabaj, Here to There 5
Outcomes Framework: We have also been working with Mark Cabaj on an Outcomes Framework, which is designed to help communicate more clearly with Collaborators, be more deliberate about priorities, and accelerate desired changes. Key priorities contemplated in the coming year include: working with the legal profession to encourage brain science education by family lawyers, and to identify implications for shifts in ethical responsibilities and practices of family lawyers working with the Provincial Court and the Court of Appeal, to ensure that they are familiar with and have considered the Theory of Change. Continued work with the Court of Queen's Bench on their efforts to bring about internal changes that align with the Theory of Change continued work with Justice and Solicitor General on various family justice initiatives helping to enhance the public understanding that "parents fighting about their children causes harm", and to ensure supports are in place to improve resilience and well-being working with frontline service providers / supports for families, to empower them to provide the social, relationship and financial supports families need when they are restructuring working with other Ministries (Health, Education, Community and Social Services, Children's Services) to share the Theory of Change and seek their commitment to providing the supports that families need when they are restructuring. In our meetings there are increasing calls for the integration of services for children, family and youth across Ministries, in order to help families thrive. RFJS Co-Convenors: *Justice Andrea Moen, Court of Queen s Bench *ADM Mary MacDonald, Resolution and Court Administration Services, Alberta Justice and Solicitor General, replacing ADM Lynn Varty who has retired *Anthony Young, QC and Don Cranston, QC, Law Society of Alberta *Justice Andrea Moen will be retiring at the end of September 2018, and Justice Rod Jerke will be taking over as Co-Convenor for the Court of Queen s Bench RFJS Backbone: *Diana Lowe, QC Co-Lead: 780-427-2783, diana.lowe@albertacourts.ca *Barb Turner, QC Co-Lead: 780-427-4995, barb.turner@gov.ab.ca *Chance Watchel Research Analyst: 403-297-7125, chance.watchel@gov.ab.ca 6