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Services for supervised access rights were established in Québec in the mid-1980s. The service was designed to meet the public’s need for measures that would allow children to maintain relationships with both of their parents following a relationship breakdown that proved problematic or for any other major reason.
The Fédération Québécoise des organismes communautaires famille (FQOCF, Québec federation of family community organizations) was the first group to become involved with the resources providing supervised access services, and to bring their work to the attention of the Ministries concerned. In the late 1990s, the FQOCF sponsored a new working committee called the national coordinating committee for supervision resources.
In 2004, this committee organized a group work session to draft a code of ethics specifically for services for supervised access rights. The committee tabled the final document in November 2005 at the FQOCF National Meeting in Laval.
In April 2005, the Minister of Health and Social Services announced in his budget that $1.5 million was earmarked for supervised access services in Québec. However, not all of the money allocated was fully invested in the years following the announcement.
In September 2005, a report from the interdepartmental committee on supervised access services was made public by Minister of Families Carole Théberge, Minister of Youth Protection Margeret F. Delisle, and Minister of Justice and Attorney General Yvon Marcoux. The report contains recommendations for supervised access services. The Québec government subsequently formed and mandated a new interdepartmental committee composed of the same Ministries to develop and establish standards of practice and to define the training relevant for supervision resources.
In October 2006, the RQRSDA was legally constituted and became the main representative for matters concerning supervised access services.
In April 2007, one of the RQRSDA’s first mandates was to draft standards for supervised access in collaboration with the interdepartmental committee.
In April 2008, the Ministère de la Famille (MF), in collaboration with the Ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux (MSSS) and the Ministère de la Justice (MJQ), published the Guide relatif à l’organisation des services de supervision des droits d’accès (GROS SDA, Guide for the organization of services for supervised access rights).
In February 2009, the RQRSDA worked with the interdepartmental committee to develop a training plan for supervision resources.
In 2009, the RQRSDA collaborated with the Community-University Research Alliances’ study on separated parents and stepfamilies, the ARUC-Séparation parentale, recomposition familiale: “enfants et parents à soutenir” (http://www.arucfamille.ulaval.ca/). The RQRSDA shared its expertise with the project partners.
In December 2011, a research project was launched to establish a description of services for supervised access rights in Québec. The project was a joint initiative of the RQRSDA, the Centre for Research on the Adaptation of Youth and Families at Risk (JEFAR), the MJQ, MSSS and MF.
In March 2013, the RQRSDA, the FQOCF, the Fédération des associations de familles monoparentales et recomposées du Québec (FAFMRQ, federation of associations of single-parent and blended families of Québec) and the Regroupement des maisons d’hébergement pour femmes victimes de violence conjugale (RMFVVC, association of women’s shelters for victims of domestic violence) presented their recommendations to the Ministries. The Ministries committed to exploring possible solutions to improve the accessibility and quality of supervised access services in Québec.
In May 2013, the RQRSDA submitted a Notice to the Ministries concerned, the Projet d’organisation et de financement des services de supervision des droits d’accès au Québec (Project on the organization and financing of services for supervised access rights in Québec). The RQRSDA hoped that the document would bring improvements to supervision services for families.
In June 2013, the RQRSDA organized the first province-wide gathering. The event gave supervision resources the opportunity to discuss and share intervention tools and attend a presentation by practitioner, speaker and trainer Olivier Limet.
In the fall of 2013, four provincial training sessions on supervised access rights were held. The training was designed for supervised access service coordinators and workers. Sixty-five people from 34 resources attended.
The RQRSDA organized its first symposium on services for supervised access rights in March 2014, in Drummondville. The event comprised seven workshops and presentations on themes related to supervised access rights. More than 75 people attended the event. A participant survey reported that more than 90% of attendees enjoyed the workshops and the organization. This symposium was made possible thanks to financial support from the Ministère de la Famille, the ARUC-Séparation parentale, recomposition familiale and the RQRSDA.
Today, the RQRSDA works closely with the Ministries concerned to advance the issues of funding, standards, safety, access to services, etc. The RQRSDA wants all families in Québec to have access to quality services.
The Regroupement Québécois des ressources de supervision des droits d’accès (RQRSDA) supports and represents more than the majority of supervision resources in Québec. In 2014, more than 35 resources were listed in Québec.
