Justice Minister T.J. Burke said he accepts the findings of a scathing report that says the family court system is dysfunctional — and he is promising action.

'I have no doubt in my mind that we are make our best efforts to adopt as many of them as we possibly can over the next 24 to 48 months.'— T.J. Burke, justice minister

The Access to Family Justice Task Force report said families are facing unacceptable delays in seeing their cases resolved because the system is overwhelmed by paperwork and by procedure.

Burke said he is striking a committee which will look at how to implement the recommendations from the report. As well, a pilot project will start this fall intended to ease the pressure on the family court division.

"I have no doubt in my mind that we are make our best efforts to adopt as many of them as we possibly can over the next 24 to 48 months," Burke said.

Burke said he accepts the report's main point that spending a bit more on alternatives at the outset will cost the system less overall.

Justice Raymond Guerette, the task force's chairman, said in the report —which was released Tuesday and includes 50 recommendations — that the family justice system has deteriorated over the last 15 years.

The report attributed the worsening state of the system to a variety of factors, including an almost 50 per cent jump in people without lawyers, an escalation in the number and complexity of hearings in child protection cases, and "perceived procedural requirements."

"The object is to keep the case moving through the system, because right now it takes too long to get anything done," Guerette told reporters.

Court workers spend too much time on paperwork

The report said court workers, including social workers, spend most of their time on paperwork, rather than resolving family disputes.

'Being a single parent is bad enough as it is, without this family court adding to their problems.'— Judge Raymond Guerette

The best interests of children are secondary to what the report calls "excessive procedural demands."

The report proposed a triage model that would divert some cases to mediation or to other services to lower the court's caseload.

Guerette said that recommendation will save money in the long run.

"Our finding is that the longer a case remains in the judicial system, the more it costs," he said.

However, the province recently cut some of the very services in the recent budget that the task force report says are needed, such as mediators.

With the problems facing the court process, Guerette said the system is insensitive to what families are going through.

"It's insensitive, because it doesn't take into account the anguish and the anxiety of single parents who have to go through the system to obtain a remedy or some relief. Being a single parent is bad enough as it is, without this family court adding to their problems."