Family Law Reform: New Measure Allowing a Parent to Request Physical or Psychological Health Services for Their Child Without The Other Parent’s Consent in Situations of Domestic Violence, Spousal abuse or Sexual Abuse.
As of Thursday May 18th, 2023, a new provision within the family law reform Bill 2 came into effect. Prior to this date, consent was needed by both parents in order for a child to receive health and social care services. This was problematic for families that found themselves involved in situations of domestic violence, spousal abuse or sexual abuse.
The new reform allows a parent to seek help for their child without having to ask the other abusive parent for consent. The goal of this reform aims to prevent violent parents from taking control and objecting to their child getting help that they need. Often, abusive parents object to consent as a means of blackmailing their spouse. This puts the child’s physical and mental health in peril.
With this new reform, if your child is under the age of 14 and needs health or social services because of one of these situations, you must go through the process of requesting an attestation from the Directeur des poursuites criminelles et pénales (DPCP). The DPCP will evaluate the situation and issue the attestation in a timely manner. It is not necessary for that parent to have filed a complaint regarding the other parent’s abusive behaviour in order to receive the attestation.
Furthermore, if your child is 14 years of age or older, is capable of consenting to their own care and is in need of urgent services or services relating to their mental health, you do not need to get an attestation from the Directeur des poursuites criminelles et pénales (DPCP). You can seek help for your child immediately.
The only condition is that the services requested must be one’s that are recognized by the Justice Minister. You can find a list of these services at:
https://www.quebec.ca/sante/systeme-et-services-de-sante/demander-des-services-pour-son-enfant-sans-consentement-d-un-parent/services-reconnus-ministre-justice
