Experts and Litigators on Issues Impacting Children & Custody

Children face complex issues that are often exacerbated by contested custody litigation. This full-day seminar provides insight on those issues, including mental health, learning disabilities, parental impairment, and the impact parental impairment has on parenting and custody litigation. Listen as our speakers draw upon their professional experiences to address these issues and offer advice for effective remediation during contested custody litigation, and learn how to address and resolve complex custody issues without adding to the myriad of problems the children are already facing. Topics include: settlement options with problematic clients; coping with the client’s personality disorder; child development; shared parenting schedules; custody disputes; educational issues; psychiatric disorders in pediatrics; allegations of sexual abuse; parental psychological impairments; co-parenting; discovery; and much more! The program is designed for family law practitioners with intermediate to advanced levels of practice experience.

 

 

 

Dealing with intelligent high-functioning parents and coping with their personality disorders while attempting to settle a custody dispute can be a taxing endeavor for any attorney. The speakers in this segment discuss their most creative settlements (as well as their most difficult cases that could not be settled) and offer advice and insight to attorneys who find themselves in similar situations.

 

In this segment, the speaker discusses normal child development and age-appropriate shared parenting schedules. Exceptions to the rules – such as medical issues, incarceration, and step-parenting – are also examined.

 

10:15 – 10:30 a.m. Break (beverages provided)

 

In this session, a clinical psychologist discusses psychological testing, behavioral problems in school, types of disabilities (including the various warning signs), evaluating a learning disability, and the development of an effective educational program. The impact of custody disputes in attaining necessary accommodations for the child is also examined.

 

 

The speaker highlights the common psychiatric disorders seen in children and discusses how these disorders (and the parent’s willingness to meet the specific needs of the child) can impact custody. The various types of developmental and mental health concerns a child may obtain as a result of a conflicted custody case are also examined.

 

1:45 – 3:00 p.m. Putting Out Fires with Gasoline: The Pitfalls of DCFS, Victim Sensitive Interviews, and 604(b) Examiners

This segment examines the methodological complications of assessing allegations of child sexual abuse and false positive allegations of sexual abuse in child custody disputes.

 

3:00 – 3:15 p.m. Break (refreshments provided)

 

The speaker addresses the impact of a parent’s mental health on successful co-parenting by identifying and describing psychological impairments, including bi-polar, alcoholism, and addiction.

 

Conflicts arise in custody cases, especially when parents try bringing in every available person as an independent witness to advance their case. In this segment, the speaker provides a comprehensive overview of the informal investigation, formal discovery, and the limitations placed on discovery pursuant to state and federal statutes related to mental health information, including drug and alcohol treatment records.

 

*Lunch is included