The OCL (Office of the Children’s Lawyer) requires the completion of an intake form to review your case.  This lengthy form requires time to complete and shouldn’t be done when you’re angry.  The OCL takes no prisoners and will use anything you say or do, or for that matter what you don’t do, and use it against you.  

 

 

It’s my opinion that the OCL is 100% biased and has set a system in place to re-enforce that prejudice.  Once you have a case worker assigned to you there is no way to change them, even years after the first review.  This leaves no room for self checking their own quality of work and creates a scenario where the OCL rules with a brutal fist.

So, before you take matters to the OCL and request a review of your custody and access arrangement be warned that they won’t play fair and they answer to no one. 

The Office of the Children’s Lawyer is a law office in the Ministry of the Attorney General that is suppose to provide justice on behalf of children under 18.  This office and those representing it, the clinical investigators, prepare reports for the court in a custody/access proceeding to assist lawyers who are representing the children in court, such as the Family Court in Oshawa.

 

Now this all sounds nice and very protective of the rights and best wishes of children.  

 

 

In my view and experience the answer is NO.  The OCL, or Office of the Children’s Lawyer, allows for the unfair discrimination of men with regards to investigating the best interests of children.  

 

Some years ago my children’s mother abandoned them leaving when one child was only 2 years old.  The mother at that time wanted nothing to do with the children.  A few years later when she realized that she would have to pay child support she began to fight for the kids.  The OCL, or Office of the Children’s Lawyer, got involved using a social worker based out of Oshawa Family Court.  At the time I was naive thinking that I had nothing to fear, how wrong I was.  Father discrimination is rampant in Durham Region and supported by the Durham Children’s Aid Society, the OCL or Office of the Children’s Lawyer and the court system.  I met this woman at my front door, long silver hair pulled tight in to a ponytail.  She stood straight and ridged like an army sergeant.  There was no doubt in my mind that this woman was burned by a man and she was out exact revenge.  She was cold, short and extremely condescending.  She could care less about the children and what was making them happy and only probed in to the failure of the marriage.  This woman hated men and it showed.  I had visions of the wicked witch of the East burning her bra back in the 70’s. But, as I sat there talking with her I thought that I was going to have a fair evaluation of my circumstances.  Was I wrong!  This woman not only reported a completely biased view of what was going on she out right lied.  This social worker who hated men and had an axe to grind wanted to take out her revenge on all the men out there.  She wrote such foul lies about me, the father of these children who solely provided for them for over 4 years, in her report to the court I had to take action.  

 

 

The only course of action I could take was to file a response to this outrageous report.  Unlike the social workers report, my report was exact and factual and removed of emotional bias.  Issue after issue I painted a clear picture of what actually happened, then I filed it.  The OCL or Office of the Children’s Lawyer received my response and simply ignored it.  They responded back, not that I expected anything different, without issue of the original report. They were ok with lies and half truths.  

 

I will say that the judges, and there were a few, that read both the OCL, or Office of the Children’s Lawyer, report and my response to it all came to the same general view.  The Office of the Children’s Lawyer is not always right and there views can be biased, they dismissed the report.

 

Men, fathers, when you are fighting for your children remember this.  You will NOT get any support from the system including the Office of the Children’s Lawyer, the Durham Children’s Aid Society and other services provided in Durham Region.  You will need to fight hard and more importantly smarter.  Find a good lawyer in Durham Region, and that’s hard to do, that understands how to fight for fathers.

 

Good luck with your battle!