A Successful First Year for the OBA’s Child & Youth Law Section

As the OBA’s new Child and Youth Law Section (CYL) closes out its inaugural year, there is opportunity to reflect on the Section’s impressive achievements. The following provides a brief summary of accomplishments as well as the Section’s ambitions for the time head.

Education/Programming

Successfully delivered a number of child and youth-focused programs, including:

• October 3rd, 2014: Joint CYL/the Office of the Children’s Lawyer/Justice for Children and Youth program titled: “How to Effectively Represent Teens and Young Adults Seeking Child Support”.
• November 6th, 2014: Joint CYL/Citizenship and Immigration Law program: “Child and Youth Issues in Immigration and Refugee Law”.
• March 31st, 2015: Joint CYL/Education Law program: “Student Discipline: Practical Strategies for Helping High Risk Students Succeed”.
• June 17^th, 2015: Section’s year-end event: “Celebrate the Child and Youth Law Section’s Inaugural Year”.
• June 23^rd, 2015:  Joint CYL/SOGIC program at the LSUC 2015 Pride Event: “Exploring LGBTQ Youth Challenges”.

Website/Resources

• More than 19 articles posted on Section’s website since November 2014, covering a wide range of areas of the law.
• Online “Resources” section kept up to date with relevant news, links and legislative updates.
• Online discussion forums established in a few areas (e.g. YCJA cases).

Advocacy/Policy

• Promotion at the Vancouver, BC, conference (“Access to Justice for Children”) on May 14th-15th, 2015.
• Discussion paper sent to OBA Executive Director re: importance of lowering OBA membership costs to promote access to membership for lawyers of lower income levels.
• Contribution to OBA CFSA submission.
• Contributed to important policy discussions within the OBA/CBA on a variety of topics, including supporting the OBA’s statement on Conversion Therapy, Bill 77 – The Affirming Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Act.

Upcoming Events

We are looking forward to an exciting CPD line-up coming this Fall, including:

• Joint CYL/Criminal/Women’s Law Forum program: “For Your Eyes Only: Selfies, Cyberbullying and C-13” on September 17^th, 2015.
• Joint CYL/Family Law Program: “Critical Strategies for Handling High Conflict Families” on October 20^th, 2015.
• Ethics lunch program: “Essential Ethics when Representing Children and Youth” on November 17^th, 2015.

It has been a highly successful year for the Child and Youth Law Section, and our momentum only stands to grow in time. OBA members interested in Child and Youth Law are encouraged to join, or re-join, the Section and help us grow our community and further the conversation about the rights and effective representation of children and youth.

To join, or re-join, the section, please click here.