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  • Who has had an OCL interview-what to expect?

    I am having an interview and am having last minute concerns. I initiated the involvement of the OCL but am worried about what to expect. A social worker has been assigned and is coming to the house to meet and interview me alone.

    What kinds of questions do they ask?

    Do they want to see report cards, child's bedroom, affidavits from court file pertaining to access(our custody is already decided)?

  • #2
    In my first interview (approx two hours long) the worker asked about my background such as education, professions, my parents and siblings - who they were and what they did etc. He also asked what I knew about my ex and her family. We talked about how my ex and I met, got married, lived together and got separated etc. Then he asked me to sign some consents to get information from collateral sources such as school, doctor, counselors etc. During this meeting I was talking most of the times and the worker was just writing down the data.

    The first meeting is usually to assess the scope of the OCL investigation, get a sense of parents' behaviour, their willingness to cooperate with the worker. Stay calm, unemotional and be to the point. Answer all the questions as briefly as possible (longer answers mean more writing for the worker and more confusions for them later on). It is okay to redirect the worker to some of the issues that you think should be included in the scope but do not try to tell them how to do their job. Use professional language about your ex. (This will go a long way because first impression is everything.) Most of all stay focused that this whole thing is about kids and not about how you feel about your ex..

    They will get the school reports directly from the school. They don't see the child's bedroom in the first interview but they might do that in the obersvation visit.(my worker never stepped out of the living room) I am not sure if they read your affidavits. My worker knew a lot about the case which led me to believe that the read through the file to get an understanding of the case.(Also, he had already met me ex first) I would assume they are not supposed to be relying on the affidavits on file (their involvement is to get independent assessment and not to endorse either of the parents submissions).

    Good luck.

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    • #3
      Thank you so much for that reply, it lessened my fears.

      I guess I am a bit surprised they care so much about the actual relationship that went south with the ex. I guess it gives them an idea of the dynamics between the parties.

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      • #4
        I went through this process and found it encompassed about 6 months of the process. All in all it was good and the results were in my favour. Be honest and look on it as a tool to try and lessen the hostilities with the aid of a unbiased third party. The courts have a tendency to give this a substantial amount of credence and I reintroduced this back into a number of my case, separation, trial conferences.

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