Back-To-School And COVID-19: When Parents Disagree

• Published date: 22 September 2020
• Subject Matter: Consumer Protection, Litigation, Mediation & Arbitration, Family and Matrimonial, Coronavirus (COVID-19), Family Law, Arbitration & Dispute Resolution, Education, Government Measures, Operational Impacts and Strategy
• Law Firm: Watson Goepel LLP
• Author: Mr Laurence S. Klass and Sherry Yu

With many educational institutions across B.C. open to returning students this fall, parents of school-aged children have had to face the difficult decision of whether to send their child back to school or to continue their education at home for the near future.

While the B.C. government has created a detailed plan for the return to in-class learning, community transmission of COVID-19 continues to climb, and many parents remain concerned for the health and safety of their children and family members.

Further complicating this decision are the sometimes differing opinions between separated parents; one parent may want to keep the child at home, while the other believes it is more important for them to return to class. How should these types of disputes be resolved?

Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR)

When attempts between parents to resolve such disputes on their own fall apart, many will look to external support for dispute resolution. If possible, parents should first seek to resolve the disagreement using alternative dispute resolution (ADR) methods such as mediation or arbitration. ADR in the family law context has many benefits, including lower costs and a greater likelihood of preserving cooperative relationships between the parties. However if parents cannot come to an agreement using ADR methods, the decision will be left up to the courts.

In B.C., the primary consideration in family law cases where children are concerned is the best interests of the child. A compelling reason why it would not be in a child's best interests to go back to school is if the child has a specific health condition that makes them particularly vulnerable to COVID-19.

A parent may have personal reasons for not wanting to send the child back to school (e.g. the vulnerable health condition of another member of the household), but such factors should be considered in the context of how they affect the interests of the child. In making the back-to-school decision for parents, the courts' analysis of the best interests of the child will likely involve a weighing of the costs (e.g. health concerns) and benefits (e.g. social and educational aspects of school) of the parents' respective positions.

Children may also have an opinion on whether or not they wish to go back to school, and although the views of the child are not determinative, the Family Law Act specifically provides that unless inappropriate to do so the child's views must be considered when determining what is in...