Voice of Child Report for Mediation

A Voice of the Child Report is a document that sets out the wishes and views of a child in relation to parenting arrangements. For example, a Voice of the Child Report can contain a child’s preference to live full time with their father or a preference to live an equal amount of time with each parent. A Voice of the Child Report does not include recommendations about what is in the child’s best interests; it only reports what the child wants.

A Voice of the Child Report may be included in the mediation process to help parents in crafting a parenting plan, particularly when the parents disagree about their child’s views and preferences. The parents may not always follow the wishes of the child from the Voice of Child Report. The child’s wishes are one aspect to assist the parents to decide what is the best parenting schedule for their family.

The consent of both parents is required for a Voice of the Child Report. Once the consent of the parents is received, I will meet briefly with each parent following which I will meet on two or more occasions with each child.

I will not meet with, or collect information from, third parties or other sources. Once the meetings have been completed, I will write a report containing the child’s preferred living arrangements. Only the information that the child permits me to share will be brought back to the parents. I have an obligation to maintain a child’s right to confidentiality except in exceptional circumstances.

Some benefits offered by Voice of Child Reports include:

children may feel less anxiety speaking about their preferred residential arrangements with a neutral third party rather than a parent
children may cope better with changes if they have had some input in the decision making

The Voice of the Child Report process may not be suitable for all families and all children. Let's have a conversation to determine if the Voice of the Child Report may be helpful in your specific circumstances.

Voice of Child Report Fee is $800.00 for one child. The fee for each additional child is $200.00. All fees are subject to applicable taxes.