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Family
Therapy News
A.A.M.F.T. June/ July 2000
What
is a Parent Coordinator?
Specialized
Therapists and
Mandated High Conflict Families
By Susan
Boyan, AAMFT Clinical Member,
and Director
of Cooperative Parenting Institute
Throughout the
country a new trend has been spreading; the use of therapists as Parent Coordinators.
Binuclear families in high conflict are not receiving the services they require
to thrive. Even though these conflicted families have professionals such as
judges, guardians, custody evaluators, attorneys and mental health providers
it seems that no one professional can impact these families in a therapeutic
and long-term manner. Historically, judges have referred families to alternate
services such as mediation, parent education, counseling and other services.
Unfortunately, the families in need of ongoing monitoring seem to fall through
the cracks and end up in the revolving door of litigation.
The types of parents who
may require monitoring include those with allegations of abuse, drug usage,
blocked access, alienation and other inappropriate or dangerous behaviors.
Parent Coordinators are experienced psychotherapists who are granted limited
authority to intervene with high conflict divorce. The Coordinator may be
assigned pre- or post-divorce. Sometimes they are assigned years after a divorce,
when the family has returned once again to litigate. Parent Coordinators,
much like guardian as litem, are basically working in the child’s best interest.
However, unlike a guardian who is time-limited, the therapist assigned as
a Parent Coordinator is available in the future as needed to assist the family.
In some states this role
is covered by Special Masters or Parenting Coordinators. However, often Special
Masters are attorneys rather than therapists. The states that use Parent Coordinators
are growing in number including Georgia, Florida, California and Pennsylvania
to name just a few.
Research and Power
Chart
According to Garrity and
Baris in Caught in the Middle; Protecting the Children from High Conflict
Divorce, the need for Parent Coordinators is a growing trend. During the
1997 international Association of Family and Conciliation Courts (A.F.C.C.)
conference, in San Francisco, the concept of a "Power Chart" was
demonstrated to illustrate the problem with our current method of handling
high conflict families.
| |
Authority |
Access |
Clinical
Skills |
| Judge |
Yes |
No |
No |
| Guardian |
Some |
Yes |
No* |
| Attorney |
No |
No |
No |
| Psychotherapist |
No |
? |
Yes |
| P. Coordinator |
Yes/limited |
Yes |
Yes |
* This is assuming the
GAL is an attorney rather than a psychotherapist
The Problem
As noted by the Power
Chart above, no one professional, except the Parent Coordinator
has all three essential
components needed to truly assist the high-conflict families. Even when the
parents are ordered by the judge or a guardian to begin counseling, the parents
may or may not choose to stay with the treatment plan. As soon as they hear
something they do not like, they will terminate their provider. Most therapists,
without some form of authority, will fail more often than succeed. To add
to this, most of the parents referred into treatment tend to be quite difficult.
So when judges order parents
to work with a therapist, the non-compliant parent often drops out and ultimately
returns to court. Meanwhile, the children are growing up in the midst of unnecessary
stress. This has not served families or the innocent children who live in
them.
The Solution
Parent Coordinators are
trained psychotherapists, preferably licensed marriage and family therapists,
who are designated to work with select families. Parent Coordinators must
have training and experience in child development, legal dynamics, mediation
and conflict resolution. In addition, many Parent Coordinators are being encouraged
or required to be trained in the Cooperative Parenting model.
The role of the Parent
Coordinator is to educate, mediate, monitor, ensure the court order is enforced
and assist the parents in creating a workable Parenting Plan. After parents
have finished working with their assigned Parent Coordinator, (six months
to one year) they are encouraged to return in the future as needed to resolve
parenting issues. Generally they complete a Parenting Plan at the completion
of the program that helps them to clarify expectations and to close any loop
holes in their previous order or settlement agreement. They also agree to
return to their Parent Coordinator for a minimum of two joint sessions before
seeking any legal action against their co-parent.
The Cooperative Parenting
Program
The Cooperative Parenting
program was written by Boyan and Termini in 1997 to assist conflicted
parents learn, how to disengage and communicate more effectively with the
co-parents. The other main goal of the program is to help parents understand
the impact of their behaviors on their child’s emotional adjustment.
Initially the text was
written as a stand-alone book until it was made into a psycho-educational
video based group program for divorced parents. Cooperative Parenting groups
have become the next logical step after mandated divorce seminars. However,
as the concept of Parent Coordination grew, the Cooperative Parenting material
was again modified to be used with trained Parent Coordinators. The Parent
Coordinator training package, along with marketing and assessment forms has
been purchased throughout the United States and Canada to give Parent Coordinators
a curriculum to provide an educational component to their work.
Parent Coordination
Versus Therapy
Although Parent Coordinators
are therapists, it is important to recognize that what they do is not psychotherapy.
Parent Coordinators do not have the luxury of taking all the time necessary
to work with parents. They must "push" parents to make as much progress
as possible, often at a time when the parents are highly resistant. Parent
Coordinators must also limit what the parents talk about, and they also must
structure sessions tightly. Otherwise, conflicted parents push limits, become
highly agitated, waste time and they ultimately will not make progress. For
all these reasons, Parent Coordinators, unlike therapists, cannot afford to
be warm and fuzzy. If parents need therapy they are referred elsewhere.
For obvious reasons, Parent
Coordinators must be direct and authoritative at times. Unlike Parent Coordinators,
therapists are not required to keep clients accountable nor are they granted
any authority to require additional services or temporary modifications. Therapists
are not encouraged to communicate with the judge or the attorneys. Without
authority, therapists often have an impossible job with high conflict parents.
In more than 75 percent of the referred cases, one parent may have an Axis
II diagnosis and/or a substance problem.
Another way in which Parent
Coordination is different from therapy is that the process is not confidential
since it is court ordered. Unlike most standard mediation, the mediation done
by the Parent Coordinator is not confidential because the parents have a court
order to participate.
THERAPY
V.S. PARENT COORDINATION
Although they are both
psychotherapists, the role, responsibilities and style differ significantly.
| THERAPY * |
PARENT
COORDINATOR
|
| Usually voluntary
participation |
Mandated
or stipulated participation
|
| No accountability |
Accountability
|
| Based on Client Needs |
Based
on Child’s Needs
|
| Based on Past and
Present |
Based
on Present and Future
|
| Confidential |
Limited
confidentiality
|
| Client in charge
of treatment |
Parent
Coordinator in charge of session
|
| Empathic |
Directive
and Confronting
|
| Pace determined by
client |
Fast
paced
|
| Unlimited number
of sessions |
Limited
number of sessions
|
| Unstructured |
Highly
structured
|
| Minimal expectations |
Maximum
expectations
|
| "Change"
optional |
"Change"
required
|
| No monitoring |
Required
monitoring
|
| No reporting |
Reports
progress/ compliance to the courts
|
| No authority |
Limited
authority
|
| No Parenting Plan
created |
Parenting
Plan created and submitted
|
| No responsibility
to return |
Parents
are required to return as needed
|
*Therapy
styles vary based on training, education, and setting.
The Role and Authority
of Parent Coordinators
A Parent Coordinator is
assigned to educate, mediate, monitor, ensure the court order and report back
to the courts. One of the primary jobs is to ensure parental access, reduce
stress for the child, and teach conflict resolution skills to the parents.
Parent Coordinators generally also assist the parents to write a Parenting
Plan.
Parent Coordinators are
granted different degrees of authority; yet they must be granted some form
of authority. Most orders include at least the following:
*the authority to recommend
additional services (such as a parenting class, drug screen, etc.);
*the authority to use
program discretion;
*the authority to send
updates to counsel; Re: any noncompliance
*authority to make "temporary"
modifications to visitation (such as drop-off location, time to call the child,
etc.). The term "temporary" refers to anywhere from two-four weeks.
In some rare cases the
judge may allow the Parent Coordinator to "temporarily" arbitrate
a parenting matter that hits an impasse.
Any temporary modification
must be based on the child’s needs and never done as a punitive measure for
difficult parents. The only exception allows for the Parent Coordinator to
charge one parent for "no shows," for acting out in session or coming
late to an appointment. Therefore, the language of the court order is essential.
In California and other
states some jurisdictions include a Parent Coordinator Addendum.
This allows either the
judge or attorneys to determine which specific areas will be authority granted.
Sample addendums may be requested from the author.
Parent Coordination work
is both rewarding and difficult. Therefore, professionals attempting Parent
Coordination need all the support they can get. Otherwise, they will burn
out quickly unless they have ways to communicate and network with other Parent
Coordinators. Support is essential for Parent Coordinators throughout the
country.
For more information on
Parent Coordination, visit www.cooperativeparenting.com.
Susan
Boyan, M.Ed., LMFT, is Director of The Cooperative Parenting Institute
2801
Buford Highway Suite T 70 - Atlanta, Georgia 30329. (404)315-7474, Ext. 1.
A.A.M.F.T.
FAMILY THERAPY NEWS JUNE/JULY 2000
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