“In sum, the factors that must be considered in determining whether a child has involuntarily withdrawn from parental control include the following:
(a) The onus is on the child to establish the involuntariness of her withdrawal from parental control.
(b) The standard necessary to find that the withdrawal is involuntary looks to eviction or unbearable conditions. But in considering what is unbearable, the court must engage in a contextual analysis of the factors that led to the child’s withdrawal. A broad matrix of factors regarding both parent and child must be considered.
(c) The analysis must look to what is unbearable to the particular child who has withdrawn. What is unbearable for one child may not be for the other. A child and parent’s difficulty coping with each other may be sufficient, depending on the control being exerted and the condition of the child. Similarly, an intolerable breakdown in their communication may also suffice.
(d) Implicit in the analysis is the notion that the control being withdrawn from must be reasonable for the withdrawal to be voluntary. A child’s refusal to follow reasonable parenting limits for purely subjective reasons will likely make the withdrawal voluntary.
(e) The child’s decision must be complete. It must be to, in the words of Clements J. in Haskell v. Letourneau, to “… cut the family bonds and strike out on a life of his own… [to assume] the responsibility of maintaining or supporting himself… to cut himself away from the family unit.”
(f) The complete withdrawal must be from both parents.
(g) In considering whether the withdrawal is voluntary, the court can look to behaviour both before and after the withdrawal.
(h) One relevant aspect of behaviour after the withdrawal is whether the parent has attempted to repair his or her relationship with the child.
(i) Despite the onus placed on the child, the court must be cautious before finding on the facts before it that a child has clearly decided to voluntarily withdraw from reasonable parental control.”