- What is a Child Specialist?
- Licensed mental health professional with specific training and expertise in child psychology and development and family systems and experience with divorce and separation
- Works with parents and professionals to improve family functioning through the restructuring
that divorce or separation requires
- Helps the parents plan for a joint conversation with their children and understand the impact of their words and actions on their children’s future emotional well-being
- Helps discern and share the child’s feelings, needs and preferences in the process—supporting the concept of “voice not a choice” in the family transition and court process
- Helps professionals understand the family system
- Helps parents communicate and create a workable co-parenting plan that meets their children’s unique needs and interests
- Drafts a detailed, child-centered Parenting Plan to incorporate in final agreement
- Provides a resource for future family challenges parents may face post-judgment (significant others, changing child development, residential moves, or other issues)
- Similar to models of child-inclusive family mediation
- Not a witness; role is to provide out-of-court intervention and expertise to assist parents in lessening conflict and making child-centered decisions
- Not a therapist – works as a neutral focused on resolution of family matters not therapy to diagnose and address psychological disorders; therefore, not covered by insurance; may make appropriate treatment referrals
- Not a psychological evaluator – helps parents make decisions with professional input and support, not provide conclusions about a schedule
- Not a parenting coordinator/special master – does not make decisions for the family
- Overview of Process
- Initial parent meeting (individual and joint time)
- Child meeting (s)
- Feedback session—techniques for bringing the child into the room (words, pictures…)
- Discuss and draft the parents’ joint Parenting Plan (principles, communication, decision-making, schedule, and future issue resolution process)
- Options for teamwork with mediator, GAL, attorneys
- Define role as child-inclusive/family mediation or have a Stipulation and Order to clarify cannot be a witness
- Benefits of Child Specialist Involvement
- Child
- Children have the opportunity to speak openly (and be heard) about their experience of their family changes with a trained caring professional
- Children acquire a feedback mechanism to communicate their “voice” to their parents
- Parents learn new skills and techniques for reducing conflict and improving communication that directly benefit the children
- Helps avoid the children feeling responsible or like a rope in a tug-of-war
- Parents
- Most parents care about their children; the child specialist gives them a window into their children’s feelings and the impact of their own behaviors
- Parents may learn what they can do or should avoid doing to benefit their children, including managing emotions and learning co-parenting skills
- Parents make their own decisions with greater likelihood of compliance
- Gain a resource for future consultation/issue resolution to avoid post-judgment litigation
- Child