One way to cope with the complexities and stresses of working with high-conflict families is by organizing and systematizing. There is so much that is unpredictable and uncontrollable when one is evaluating a high-conflict family system, that it is critical to predict and control all that can be predicted and controlled. This volume offers standardized questionnaire and interview tools to assist the elevator in this endeavor. Caveat: A standardized questionnaire or interview is not an assessment instrument, per se. None of the resources contained in this volume have now or are likely to ever have established reliability or validity coefficients. None of these resources generate diagnoses. Each of these resources is intended to provide you, the evaluating family law professional, with one among many perspectives on the matter at hand; the mans to draw a map to guide you through the complex family system. They provide grist for the mill and added value to the process. What you'll find in this book: - an introduction to each of ten evaluations tools presented in a sequence of six broad categories or chapters - an introduction at the beginning of each chapter to the general topic, including an annotated discussion of the resource - a chapter-by-chapter list of references - a CD containing all ten forms to download and print The resources are laid in between, page-by-page. Empirical citations are intended to highlight aspects of each tool that are particularity interesting or valuable. When possible, items are cross-referenced within a given resource with related data that is available elsewhere.

The Parenting Plan Worksheet is the conscientious caregiver's only developmentally-informed means of creating a child-centered parenting plan. Sixteen discrete but interlocking modules allow parents singly or together to better understand the intricate decisions that will guide the future allocation of their parenting rights and responsibilities.

This book, The Roadmap to The Parenting Plan Worksheet, is the professional's guide to using the Parenting Plan Worksheet. The Roadmap dissects the sixteen component modules of the Worksheet, presenting case law, theory and empirical discussion.

Mediators, parenting coordinators, lawyers and courts use the Roadmap to guide parents through the rocky terrain that can lead to the creation of a child-centered, developmentally-informed parenting plan.

[T]he best and most useful social science text I have read in a decadeÖ.It is comprehensive in its research and scope, clearly written and uses excellent case studies and examples to illustrate in simple terms what might otherwise be complex phenomena.

--Dr. Tom Altobelli
Federal Magistrate, Family Law Courts
Sydney, Australia

The goal of every family law professional and mental health practitioner is to improve family court outcomes in the best interests of the child. This book will assist readers in meeting this critical goal. Developmental Psychology for Family Law Professionals serves as a practical application of developmental theory to the practice of family law.

This book helps family law and mental health professionals gain a broader understanding of each child's unique needs when in the midst of family crisis. It presents developmental theories with which professionals might better assess the developmental needs, synchronies, and trajectories of a given child. Ultimately, this book presents guidelines for making appropriate legal decisions and recommendations for children who have experienced crises such as abuse, neglect, relocation, divorce, and much more.

Key topics include:

• Custodial schedules
• Foster and adoptive care
• Post-divorce disputes
• Termination of parental rights
• Psychological assessment and diagnosis
• Incarcerated parents and visitation rights
• Relocation and distance parenting
• Visitation resistance and refusal/reunification
• Parental Alienation/alignment and estrangement
• Theories of cognitive, language, and social development

An insightful, honest guide for parents and professionals regarding children on roles, boundaries, child growth and staying connected through life.

Twenty-six letters. Twenty-six lessons. This fun little book is a simple how to guide for new and not-so-new parents.

Separation and divorce are tough enough on grown-ups, and they can be even tougher on kids.

We all get angry sometimes, but out-of-control anger can make life miserable for everyone in the family, especially during a divorce, parental separation, or throughout the years of co-parenting,

In Taming the Beast, Dr. Benjamin Garber shows you how to understand anger in all its forms, from irritation to frustration to rage, and express it constructively. You will learn practical strategies for modeling good anger management for your children, identifying and measuring emotions with the MadMeter(TM), planning ahead for what to do when anger erupts, and debriefing outbursts so you can do better next time. With practice, you and your kids will discover healthy ways to experience your own emotions-and accept each other's.

Taming the Beast is Book 2 in the Healthy Parenting series. Book 1 in the series is The Healthy Parent's ABCs: Healthy Parenting Made Clear and Easy-to-Readand Book 2 is i>Caught in the Middle: A Letter to My Divorced Parents

High conflict divorce can leave children polarized within the transitioning family system, aligned with one parent and resisting or refusing contact with the other parent. Rather than becoming mired in the bottomless pit of back and forth blame, more and more courts are seeking remedies in the form of reunification therapy.

Charged with helping the polarized child to enjoy a healthy relationship with both parents, we know what doesn't work: individual child therapy cannot remedy a family systems problem. Dyadic interventions with the child and either parent are seldom sufficient. Even family therapies fall short when they are not grounded in well-established, reliable and valid science.

Mending Fences introduces a child-centered, systemically informed, empirically-validated and experientially-proven collaborative reunification protocol. Focusing on the anxiety inhibiting the system's healthy functioning, well-respected and long-validated cognitive behavioral exposure methods are fused with structural family therapy to reduce the child's anxieties about separating from one parent and approaching the other, the aligned parent's fears of separation and loss, and the rejected parent's fears of rejection.

A common vocabulary across coordinated interventions allows children across the spectrum of ages and abilities to identify and overcome an individually tailored succession of anxiety-inducing events so as to gradually (re-)establish healthy and safe relationships with both parents.

The Mending Fences protocol is practical, proven, and effective. The user-friendly discussion is peppered with up-to-date references to the scientific literature and international case law. Application via video conferencing platforms is discussed.

Included: Case illustrations, sample court orders and service agreements

Table of Contents

Caveat Lector

Foreword

Chapter 1 There Is No Such Thing as Reunification Therapy

Chapter 2 Know When to Hold 'Em: Receiving, Accepting, or Declining the Referral

Chapter 3 The Court Order

Chapter 4 The Service Agreement

Chapter 5 In the Age of Telehealth

Chapter 6 On Villages and Blind Wisemen: MMST as a Team Sport

Chapter 7 Initial Adult Interviews

Chapter 8 Establishing Rapport with the Child

Chapter 9 Conducting Initial Child Interviews; Segueing into Anxiety Management

Chapter 10 Understanding Anxiety

Chapter 11 Anxiety Management, Exposure, and the MMST Protocol

Chapter 12 Working through the Success Deck: Creative, Responsive, and Graduated Exposure

Chapter 13 When MMST Isn't Enough

Appendix A Sample Court Order

Appendix B Sample Service Agreement

Appendix C Sample Timeline of Multi-Modal

Systemic Reunification Therapy

Citations

Acknowledgments

Index