It’s not always easy to report sexual violence. It’s a really difficult thing to go through. Many questions and emotions may come up later, especially if you find out you’re pregnant. Know that if you experienced sexual assault and this led to you giving birth to a child, both you and your child have rights.
You have options for asserting your rights and your child’s rights
You can go to court to assert certain rights on your own behalf or on behalf of your child. For example, you can ask a court to make these decisions related to the person who committed the sexual assault:
- Take away their status as a legal parent. This status is sometimes called filiation.
- Stop them from being recognized as a legal parent of your child.
- Require them to pay you financial support to help you meet your child’s needs.
To ask a court to make these decisions, you must provide proof that you were sexually assaulted, that the other biological parent committed the assault, and that your child was conceived during this assault.
Resources to accompany you in your next steps
Going to court can be stressful and may seem overwhelming. You may need support to work through what happened. Several assistance and accompaniment resources can offer you psychological and social support. Whether the sexual violence happened a long time ago or recently, you have the right to get help. You don’t need to file a police report to access these resources. Their services are free and confidential.
Here are some of the support services you can contact:
- The Sexual Violence Helpline at 1-888-933-9007.
- A Sexual Assault Help Center (CALACS).
- Rebâtir (rebuild) at 1-833-REBÂTIR (732-2847).
- The DPCP telephone line for domestic and sexual violence at 1-877-547-DPCP (3727).
Asking for financial support to meet your child’s needs
Any person who commits sexual assault is required to contribute financially to the needs of a child conceived through the assault. This is true even if this person isn’t officially recognized as the child’s parent.
As a parent, you have responsibilities toward your child, like feeding them and taking care of them. If your child was conceived through sexual assault, the law allows you to request a lump sum payment from the person who committed the assault. This payment is intended to help you meet your child’s needs until they become independent. So, this can go beyond the child’s 18th birthday.
There is no time limit on going to court to ask for financial support. You can do it whenever you feel ready. But once your child turns 18, they will need to ask the court for financial support on their own behalf.
This financial support is different from child support. The law gives you one lump sum payment instead of regular payments so that you don’t need to stay in contact with the person who committed the assault. If your child’s needs change, you can go back to court to ask for the lump sum amount to be reviewed and increased.
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Important! When you ask for financial support for your child’s needs, you’re doing it on their behalf. This means the money you get belongs to your child. If the amount is more than $40,000, you may need to complete extra administrative steps. For more information, you can contact the Curateur public du Québec (public curator) or a lawyer. |
Taking away the other person’s status as a legal parent
In some cases, the person who committed the assault might be recognized as the child’s legal parent. For example, this is the case if their name is listed on the birth certificate. However, you can ask a court to take away their status as a legal parent if your child was conceived through sexual assault.
When someone is recognized as the legal parent of a child, they have certain rights when it comes to the child. For example, they can make decisions about the child’s education or health.
If the court takes away the other person’s status as a legal parent, you will become your child’s only parent. This means you will be allowed to make all decisions about your child without needing the consent of the person who committed the assault.
The court will decide based on the child’s best interests. The nature of your child’s relationship with the person who committed the assault may be taken into account.
There is no time limit on asking the court to take away legal parent status from the person who committed the assault. However, once your child turns 18, they will need to go to court on their own behalf.
Stop the person from being recognized as a legal parent
In other cases, the person who committed the assault might not be recognized as a legal parent. This could be the case if their name isn’t on the birth certificate and they’ve never acted as a parent to the child, for example. If this person decides to ask the court to recognize them as a legal parent later on, you can contest this.
Like with the other options, you will need to convince the court that you were sexually assaulted, that the assault was committed by the other biological parent, and that your child was conceived through this assault.
However, be aware that once your child turns 18, they will be able to make their own decisions about their relationship with the person who committed the assault. Your child could choose to restore this person’s status as their legal parent even though you previously contested it.
Your child still has rights even if the other person isn’t their legal parent
Even if they’re not a legal parent, the person who committed the assault still has responsibilities toward your child. This means you can still request the lump sum payment to help cover your child’s needs.
Also, your child will still have the right to inherit from the person who committed the assault if they die without a will. Your child will still be considered their heir. However, the person who committed the assault could decide to make a will and leave nothing to your child.
How to prove the assault
You usually need to prove three main things in a court case about your child being conceived through sexual assault. You will need to show the court that you were sexually assaulted, that the assault was committed by the other biological parent, and that your child was conceived through this assault.
If the person who committed the sexual assault was found guilty for it in criminal court, you can use this conviction to prove the assault.
If you don’t have a criminal conviction, you can prove the assault in other ways. The key is to convince the court that you were assaulted, that the assault was committed by the other biological parent, and that this led to your child being conceived. You don’t need to prove this with absolute certainty. You just need to show that your version of events is more likely to be true than not. This is what the law calls proof based on the “balance of probabilities”.
You can provide evidence of the assault by testifying and sharing your version of events, along with any documents that support your testimony. In some cases, you can also request a DNA test to prove the biological link between the child and the person who committed the assault.
If you have questions about proving the assault and the child’s conception, you can consult a lawyer.