Services

Voice of the child

Often, children are stuck in a loyalty-bind and may struggle to share with their parents their unique perspective. Older children may crave more input in major decision-making regarding their lives.

As parents make plans for post-separation life, social science research shows value in children expressing their views and having an opportunity to provide input in the creation of these plans. Interestingly, parents are also more likely to settle their disputes, and children are more likely to follow these plans, if parents understand the input from the child and take care to reasonably incorporate their child’s voice.

Parenting Plan/Co-parent Consultant

SDFS clinicians frequently serve as independent neutral consultants hired by both parties to provide recommendations on parenting plan or parenting disputes. Prior to starting work, these consultants will work collaboratively with the parties and/or their attorneys to define the scope of the consulting work. Often, the scope includes written recommendations for the parties to consider. The consultant typically requires a joint meeting with both attorneys, individual meetings with the parties, possible conversations with the children, and possible collateral calls. After conducting this initial review of the circumstances, the consultant then meets jointly with the attorneys and/or parties to discuss their findings, identify areas of concern or areas ripe for further investigation, and potential recommendations for the parties to consider. The parties then may provide additional feedback or additional requests for the consultant to further consider. This process is a collaborative process and is appropriate for cases where the parties want to reach an amicable resolution outside of court, but can use help and direction from a neutral provider. This service has the benefit of allowing a neutral, skilled forensic mental health professional speak to the children, if necessary/desired, to help provide the voice of the child in settlement discussions, while circumventing the need for a larger and often more costly child custody evaluation.

Voice of the Child Report

With a Voice of the Child(ren) Report, a clinician at SDFS will create a report to share with parents and their respective counsel regarding the child(ren)’s perspective on a range of issues identified through various meetings with the child(ren), parents, and counsel. The clinician role is to ascertain the child’s independent views on their life and family issues. A Voice of the Child(ren) Report is not a thorough mental health assessment nor is it a complete analysis of the child’s needs and/or best interests. The report serves as a glimpse into the child’s viewpoint which may be informative to parents as they consider their post-separation plans. This report is for children seven (7) years or older. What you can expect from a Voice of the Child Report is:

• Review of Relevant Materials

• Brief individual meetings with both parents

• Independent meetings (and joint, if appropriate) with each child. There are typically 2-3 independent meetings per child.

• Report of the child’s expressed wishes and recommendations to help resolve ongoing co-parenting disputes

Voice of the Child Advocates

Voice of the Child in Mediation: Our clinicians are often asked to speak to the child(ren) regarding specific topics identified by the parents/attorneys and then to join mediation with the child’s voice in mind. These appointments are particularly helpful when parents are working collaboratively but would like to more input from the children regarding their desires and wishes. For example, the parties may agree that they’d like to share holiday time, but would like input from the children on a holiday plan that would be preferred by the children.

ARC (Attorneys Representing Children): Our attorneys are often appointed as an ARC counsel to assist parties in resolving their child-related issues. ARC counsel provides a unique view of a case as the attorney provides insight directly from the child and, further, the ARC counsel is able to navigate without siding with either parent. ARC counsel is not appropriate for all cases, but may be appropriate for older children. Our attorneys are particularly skilled in ARC work as they are informed by their experiences working in a therapeutic environment with SDFS.