Children's Access to Justice

Mona Pare is Full Professor at the Faculty of Law, Civil Law Section, and Vice-Dean for Graduate Studies at the University of Ottawa, Canada. She is the Director and founder of the Interdisciplinary Research Laboratory on the Rights of the Child and is a member of the Human Rights Research and Education Centre at the University. She has a PhD in Law from Queen Mary College, University of London and specialises in international human rights law, children's rights and disability rights.Marielle Bruning is Full Professor of Child Law at Leiden Law School, the Netherlands and is the founder of the Leiden Child Law Department at Leiden University. She is the Program Director of the Dutch LLM in Child Law and teaches child protection in the LLM Advanced Studies in International Children's Rights program. Her research focuses on youth care, child protection, children in alternative care, violence against children, child participation in legal proceedings and children's rights. She is also an honorary deputy (juvenile) judge at the Amsterdam District Court.Thierry Moreau is Extraordinary Professor at the Faculty of Law and Criminology, School of Criminology, at the Universite Catholique de Louvain, Belgium. He is a lawyer of the Bar of Barbant Wallon and practices in child protection, juvenile justice, criminal law and family law. His research focuses on the same subjects. He is also Director of the Centre interdisciplinaire des droits de l'enfant (CIDE-Interdisciplinary Centre of Children's Rights which brings together the five French-speaking universities of Belgium and two NGOs), President of the Advisory Committee on the detention centre for minors in the French-speaking Community of Belgium and Chair of the Disciplinary Appeals Board of the National Commission of Psychologists.Caroline Siffrein-Blanc is a maitre de conferences, Assistant Director and Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Law and Political Science at Aix-Marseille Universite, France. She is also a member of the Laboratoire de droit prive et de sciences criminelles (Laboratory on private law and criminal science). She is a specialist in family law and children and the law, and her research interests lie in filiation, evolution of families, the child in parental separation and child protection.

• Introduction: A Critical Review of Access to Justice for Children (p. 1)PART I. CHILDREN’S ACCESS TO JUSTICE IN CHILD PROTECTION PROCEEDINGSThe Practice of Hearing the Child in Child Protection Proceedings in France (p. 13)Child Participation in Dutch Family Law and Child Protection Proceedings (p. 25)Children’s Voices on their Right to be Heard in the Field of Child Protection in Belgium (Communauté française): Highlighting of Blind Spots Regarding the Place and Role of the Parents (p. 39)The Significance and Effectiveness of Children’s Participation in Judicial Child Protection Procedures in Quebec, Canada (p. 55)PART II. CHILDREN’S ACCESS TO JUSTICE IN JUDICIAL AND NON-JUDICIAL PROCEDURESChildren’s Access to and Participation in the Family Justice System in France: Limits, Paradoxes and Recommendations (p. 71)Child Participation in Family Dispute Resolution in Canada (p. 83)Access to Criminal Justice for Minors in France (p. 97)Children’s Access to Justice in Jersey: Obstacles and Impediments (p. 109)Children’s Access to Procedural Justice in School Discipline Processes in Ontario, Canada (p. 123)Children’s Rights to Access Justice at the International Level: Challenge and Opportunity (p. 139)PART III. OBSTACLES TO CHILDREN’S ACCESS TO JUSTICE AND AVENUES FOR SOLUTIONSChildren’s Access to and Participation in the Justice System in Light of National Characteristics (p. 155)Impediments to Access by the Children of Indigenous Peoples to the Justice System in Cameroon (p. 169)The Transition Towards Child-Friendly Communication in the Justice System: ‘And You, Are You Listening to Me?’ (p. 183)Legal Representation as a Necessary Element of Children’s Access to and Participation in Family Justice (p. 197)Access to Justice in Protection of Young People in Quebec: The Current Status and Recommendations from those Primarily Concerned – The Children (p. 211)Photovoice as a Tool for Indigenous Children’s Participation in the Justice System (p. 225)PART IV. CRITICAL REFLECTIONS ON CHILDREN’S ACCESS TO JUSTICEThe Risks of Unanticipated Consequences from Children’s Participation in the Justice System (p. 241)Concluding Remarks on Children’s Access to and Participation in Justice (p. 255)