Child Inclusive Family Dispute Resolution

The purpose of Child Inclusive Family Dispute Resolution is to enable parents to establish or re-establish a “secure emotional base for their children in the post-separation family context[1].” At its core, the practice is centered around therapeutic conversation and allows the children to be indirectly involved in the process.

Child Inclusive Family Dispute Resolution can be described as[2]:  

·         Consulting with the children about their experiences of the dispute.

·         Ensuring that any burden of decision making is removed from the children.

·         Understanding and formulating the children’s core experience.

·         Validating the children’s experiences and providing basic information that may assist their wellbeing and development.

·         Creating a therapeutic conversation between the children’s parents by providing them with information of their children’s experiences and needs.

·         Ensuring that any agreement reflects the needs of each child.

Child Inclusive Family Dispute Resolution requires the involvement of two highly skilled individuals:

1.       The Family Dispute Resolution Practitioner who works with the parents in the resolution of their dispute; and

2.       A specially trained Child Consultant who meets with and assesses the children and provides the Family Dispute Resolution Practitioner and parents with feedback.

To commence the process, parties will initially be screened by the Family Dispute Resolution Practitioner to determine if the child-inclusive model is appropriate for their matter. Both parties will be required to attend separate and/or joint sessions with the Family Dispute Resolution Practitioner who will provide information about the model and the process. Once it is confirmed that the model is appropriate, the children will be interviewed separately by the Child Consultant. This is a private interview between the children and the Child Consultant only. During the interview, the Child Consultant will ascertain the children’s perspectives on:

·         Their experiences arising from the separation;

·         How current parenting arrangements are working for them; and

·         Any views they may want to offer about future parenting arrangements.

The Child Consultant then attends the Family Dispute Resolution session with the parties and the Practitioner to discuss the children’s feedback.

Child Inclusive Family Dispute Resolution has attracted positive evaluations indicating that the practice can help to:

·         Reduce animosity between parents;

·         Improve the levels of co-operation between parents; and

·         Lead to developmentally appropriate parenting arrangements.

However, there are concerns that a parent may not deal appropriately with a child’s feedback and consequently may impose a negative reaction on that child. Therefore, it is important that the parties remain child focused throughout the entire process for it to be successful. It is also important to note that although the children may wish to express their views to the Child Consultant, their views may not necessarily be followed by a judge if the matter proceeded to litigation. The children’s views must align with what is determined to be in their best interests (Section 65AA of the Family Law Act).

The information contained in this article is intended to be of a general nature only and should not be relied upon as legal advice. Any legal matters should be discussed specifically with one of our lawyers.

Liability limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards Legislation.

[1] T Petridis and J Hannah, “Innovations in practice: A safety assessment approach to child inclusive family dispute resolution” (2011) 17(1) Journal of Family Studies 36, p 38.

[2] J McIntosh, “Child Inclusion as a Principle and as Evidence-based Practice: Applications to Family Law Services and Related Sections”. In Australian Family Relationships Clearinghouse, (2007) (1) AFRC Issues, p 8.