“Fault” ostensibly plays no role in determination of parenting plans, but judicial officers must consider many “fault-adjacent” factors such as domestic violence, child sexual abuse, substance abuse, and encouragement (or discouragement) of a relationship with the other parent. When neither parent falls into a “fault-adjacent” category, judicial officers may find it challenging to set aside “fairness” to parents and make hard decisions accommodating a child’s particular needs. Courts are impacted, with long gaps between hearings. Modern professionals must be innovative in their approaches to meeting the special needs of children. This program uses lectures (with slide presentations and videos), role-play (e.g. demonstrations of experts participating in and out of court proceedings), and interactive activities (audience participation), in order to explain how the time BETWEEN court hearings can be exploited most productively such that in many cases, adversarial proceedings might be side-stepped in favor of cooperative plans prioritizing children’s best interests.

 

Learning Objectives:

  • Participants will CREATE PLANS within their professional roles to address support of special needs children BETWEEN hearings, whether pursuant to court order, informal agreement, or legally authorized unilateral action.
  • Participants will apply their professional roles to the successful PROPOSITION AND ADOPTION of professionally-involved parenting plans for implementation BETWEEN hearings in accommodation of children’s evolving special needs.
  • Participants will identify opportunities to promote progress BETWEEN hearings, even while adversarial proceedings proceed in parallel, and even when not all parents (or their counsel) be cooperative.
  • Participants will prepare for the potentially dramatic impacts and long-term effects on vulnerable children of parenting plans that include or fail to include provisions for accommodations of children BETWEEN hearings.