Ruth Cohen, Canadian Co-Lead of #thecourtsaid

#thecourtsaid is an international non-profit organization aimed at supporting victims and their children who have experienced violence, power imbalances, domination, and coercive control in their intimate relationships. The foundation rests on the fundamental principle that children’s safety is of paramount importance. Their focus is on educating individuals affiliated with Family Court, eradicating the multilayered systemic failures, and minimizing the re-victimization by judges or people in positions of power working within the system. #thecourtsaid campaign surveyed 900 abused families and reported that 71% of abused children made their feelings known to professionals in the Family Court with respect to having sustained physical, sexual, or emotional harm, however, 91% of them were ignored by the Court-appointed professionals. Moreover, 85% were forced or coerced into unsafe contact with a known domestic violator. As such, #thecourtsaidcanada is advocating to policy-makers in the hopes of mandating education and training on intimate partner violence and child abuse for all professionals involved in the Family Court system. This includes all custody and access assessors regardless of discipline, Office of the Children’s Lawyer, social workers, and social service workers with Children’s Aid Societies. It is #thecourtsaidcanada’s belief that any professional who handles a family law case should have training in domestic abuse, coercive control, child abuse, and the basic tenets of children’s and adult mental health. In addition, there must be training on domestic homicide and filicide. Professionals must learn to recognize the risk of domestic homicide/filicide in cases of domestic violence. Ruth Cohen, as the Co-Lead of the Canadian chapter of #TheCourtSaid, has made it one of her missions to challenge and change the Family Court system so that everyone working within it protects the victims and their children.

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