P.E.I. government looking at setting up neutral places for custody exchanges

The province is interested in setting up facilities that would allow for a safe exchange ofkids between parentsin high-conflict custody situations.

A request for expressions of interest has been issued by the province to find potential partners who would be interested in providing the service.

The hope would be to have one facility in each county that would provide a neutral setting.

Loretta Coady MacAulay, the manager of the province's family law section at the Department of Justice and Public Safety, says in high-conflict custody situations, the majority of conflict happens during the exchanges of children between parents.

"We are looking for service providers who have experience dealing with children and parents in high-conflict situations, and also have the infrastructure and physical space where supervised access and exchange can take place that is child safe and child focused," said Coady MacAulay.

She says that just who would be able to use the service needs to be worked out.

In a news release, the province said some of the things it was looking for from potential partners includes:

• trained staff to supervise the children.
• the presence of public alarms at the facility.
• ability to facilitate exchanges without contact between the parents.

CoadyMacAulay says it is too early to talk about what this initiative would cost.

Assuming the province finds partners interested in providing the service, the next step would be to issue a request for proposal.