SEVEN OUT OF TEN RESPONDENTS SAY IT IS OK TO WITHHOLD CHILD SUPPORT WHEN ACCESS IS DENIED!

The Toronto Globe and Mail today (May 25, 98) buried a story on page A5 about a survey which the paper commissioned.

The survey also reported that nearly half 46% of the respondents felt it was “ok” to jail parents who deny access.

“POLL ADDRESSES CHILD ACCESS”

Seven out of 10 people say child-support should be withheld from women who deny access to their children to husbands who pay child support, according to a poll for the Globe and Mail by Angus Reid Group. However, Ontario residents are divided over whether women who repeatedly deny access should face jail sentences.

Forty-six per cent said jail sentences are acceptable, while 48 per centsaid they are unacceptable. The poll was prompted by a recent court case in Ontario that saw a woman sent to jail for denying her ex-husband access to their children.

The issue also has been the subject of hearings by a Senate committee on the issue of access and child support. The poll, which questioned a representative sample of 1000 Ontario adults, was conducted between April 22 and May 3. A sample of this size means that 19 times out of 20, the results are the same within 3.2 percentage points as the resultsthat would be obtained by questioning all adults in the province.