Protective Caregiving
How to create a safe, secure environment while sharing care after family violence. One of the most difficult aspects of family law is coming to terms with sharing time when there have been allegations of family violence. Even when children are named on a protection order, the Family Court, after considering all the issues in […]
Doing What It Takes
Doing What It Takes Within my Parenting Coordination and Mediation work I am grateful to come across parents who have made sacrifices to shield their children from their feelings and animosity towards the other parent. Sadly, it’s often not enough. What I do hear frequently is “I will do absolutely anything for my kids”. This […]
Little Changes for a Happy Christmas
At this time of year, there is an inevitable rush to have matters resolved for the long school holidays, including Christmas. There is a heavy reliance on services to help parents and while I encourage people to utilise those services, it’s also possible to organise this without interventions.
Recent Changes to the Family Court – and what it means for parents
On the 1st of September 2021, the Family Court and Federal Circuit Court merged, creating a new pathway for parents navigating disputes after separation. The new abbreviated name is the FCFOA. The purpose of the FCFOA is to create a faster, less stressful process for finalising matters in dispute. The focus is on early resolution […]
It’s Not Me, It’s You – dealing with a narcissist’s letter in family law
This is such a hard subject to write about because a narcissist, as you probably know, is often found to be pointing the finger of blame at their target. They have more plot twists than a John Grisham novel and an Olympic-level aptitude for mental gymnastics. They have a capacity to turn any story, often of […]
Letting Go – the powerful end to separation conflict
In working with the volume of parents I do on a daily basis, one constant I notice in ongoing conflict cases is the subconscious emotional attachment each parent has to the past relationship, or to their co-parent. Yet, if I asked any of these parents if they were still emotionally attached, they would disagree and […]
The Non-Negotiable Coparent
There is an enormous cost to society if we do not radically change the pathway for parents in dispute. We tend to focus on fixing the legal system when what we need to consider deeply is embarking on a support pathway that makes the court system far less relied upon. Our children, the very people we purport to protect, carry the lasting burden of their parents’ conflict.
Activities for engaging your children online
Often the non-resident parent (be that for a week, or extended period) will report having difficulty in engaging children online. Phone calls, Skype and Facetime are all wonderful ways to interact. But how do you keep them interested? Firstly, I think it’s important to acknowledge that online engagement can be both necessary and sometimes the […]
Nurturing Children through Separation and Divorce
There are many aspects of separation and divorce. While it’s natural that parents need to resolve disputes to their satisfaction, it’s important that the children don’t become lost in that process. Parents who are in dispute present to mediators, or their lawyers, with issues that revolve around their needs and what they want to walk […]
Early Childhood Regressions: Trauma or Conflict?
Milestone regressions and behavioural changes of young children are frequently a major concern of separating parents. There are two, very rigid viewpoints often held by parents when regressions are reported. Parent A often reports that the child has regressed to bedwetting; is having unexplained tantrums, or appears to be over-tired etc. They fear that the child […]
