The COVID-19 pandemic is having a major impact on families who are divorced or separated.
One of the primary services that facilitated visits has been virtually halted, meaning many parents have not been able to see their children for an extended period of time.
“It really feels like the kids are being kept away from me,” said one parent who asked not to be identified due to an ongoing custody battle.
“I want to see them every week, but (the mother) keeps saying ‘no, ‘you’ll see them every other week.'”
The father of two says he hasn’t been able to see his young children in person for weeks. He says he’s lucky to get a 15-minute virtual visit a couple of times a month.
“It really just feels like I have to rebuild a relationship with them every time,” he said.
“It’s hard.”
COVID-19 has impacted or completely closed a number of family-related government services, including supervised access visits for separated or divorced parents.
“Unfortunately during this time, for many parents, they still have not seen their child face-to-face because a lot of the government access centers are still closed,” said Debbie Miles-Senior, owner of Side By Side Access Services Inc.
A waitlist that was already months-long for these services has been growing exponentially. As a result, many are turning to Miles-Senior, who runs Durham’s only private agency for family visits.
However, due to a number of restrictions imposed by the pandemic, Miles-Senior says she’s had to turn hundreds of parents away because she’s unable to keep up with the demand.
“We have had the opportunity to reopen, but places that have shut down like Toronto, parents are still waiting,” she said.
“We’ll have parents call (as far from) St. Catherines or Toronto saying ‘can I see my child?’ but we can’t accommodate those parents.”
Miles-Senior says it’s a devastating situation for parents, especially during the holidays.
“As the holidays approach this is having an even more tremendous impact on parents,” she said.
“It is so important for a child’s development, especially at this stage, that a child have contact with both parents.”
Family lawyers say the restrictions have left little options for parents to turn to, leaving clients extremely emotional during this time.
“The other part of it is it’s the lowest income that are missing out,” said Kathryn Hendrikx, with Toronto-based firm Hendrikx Family Law.
“People with funds can do all these things that we’re doing as family law lawyers, but it’s the legal aid clients that don’t see kids for years.”
Hendrikx adds the issue isn’t exclusive to families in the Greater Toronto Area: it’s affecting parents and children across the country.
“The vast majority of family lawyers are being very creative with respect to their orders and agreements in order to ensure that the maximum amount of contact is made. But it has been very dire since March.”
As for Miles-Senior, she says she has many clients that have not seen their children face-to-to face since prior to the pandemic. She hopes the government will see this as an essential service, while coming up with solutions to help parents in need of seeing their kids.