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September 2023
VOL. 18 No. 9
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Conference topics may include:
- Trans Youth in Separating Families
- Individualized Parenting Plans for Multiple Siblings
- Transgender Parenthood
- Transnational Families
- Assisted Reproduction Technologies
- LGBTQ+ Families
- New Ideas for Parent Education Programs
- Innovations in Family Court Services
- Parent-child Contact Problems
- Digital Family Law
- Relocation
- Intimate Partner Violence
- International Family Law
- Stepfamily Transitions
- Parenting Coordination
- Family Law and Mental Health
- Empirical Methods in Family Law Research
- Allegations of Child Sexual Abuse
- Family Dispute Resolution Innovations
All proposals are due by 11:00pm Eastern Daylight Time (USA), October 2, 2023. Please see the Call for Proposals for more information and use the online form to submit your application.
Exhibit, Sponsor, and Advertise
The annual conference is our hallmark event, offering participants unique access to an incredible interdisciplinary network of professionals. We are expecting this conference will bring together 900-1,000 of the family law industry's top professionals including judges, lawyers, psychologists, mediators, academics, parenting plan evaluators, parenting coordinators, dispute resolution professionals, and court service personnel. If your business caters towards family law professionals, this is the perfect opportunity to showcase your products or services to those who would benefit most from them. Read the exhibitor prospectus and contact Abby Rebholz to sign up.
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Online Training Programs
AFCC online training programs will be returning this winter with three excellent courses.
December 4-7, 2023
| | This comprehensive parenting coordination (PC) training is based on the AFCC Guidelines for Parenting Coordination and the Recommendations for Comprehensive Training of Parenting Coordinators. This program will include a comprehensive overview of the parenting coordination process, including definition of the role, responsibilities, and function of the parenting coordinator; an overview of family dynamics; specific PC strategies, techniques, and interventions; implications of intimate partner violence; cultural considerations; ethical issues; and use of technology. | | | |
Participants will learn about the parenting coordinator’s scope of authority, strategies to help parents improve cooperation and communication, how to help clients
utilize the process, and how to effectively write recommendations or decisions.
Presenters:
- Debra K. Carter, PhD
- Robin M. Deutsch, PhD, ABPP
- Shely Polak, PhD
- Matthew J. Sullivan, PhD
The program brochure is now available and registration will open soon!
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January 16-18, 2024
This year's advanced issues training will feature several new topics, including a new four-hour program on court involved therapy presented by Matthew Sullivan, PhD and Lyn Greenberg, PhD, ABPP. Stay tuned for more information.
March 11-14, 2024 and March 18-20, 2024
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Webinar Corner
Patricia Papernow, EdD
Wednesday, October 18th, 2023
1:00pm – 2:00pm Eastern Time (US/Canada)
Registration will close on October 17th, 2023 at 9:00am Eastern Time US/Canada.
| | What’s important for folks involved with families in the courts, and with family conflict, is that after divorce, at least one partner usually recouples. Whether the new couple marries or not (and increasingly they do not), this means that after divorce comes stepfamilies. The new adult couple is usually looking for a happy new “blended family.” However, it turns out that a stepfamily is a fundamentally different family form that makes some big challenges for all involved. Many of these challenges contribute to resist/refuse dynamics: Kids are often struggling with losses and loyalty binds. Often the pace of change is way too fast for kids. For these and other reasons, kids often don’t feel very welcoming of a new stepparent. Parents and stepparents polarize around discipline. Stepparents are often pulled prematurely into discipline (a major player in resist/refuse cases). Add that, so very often, when one partner recouples, the tension between ex-spouses goes up, exposing kids to adult conflict. | | | The bad news is that trying to navigate stepfamily challenges with a first-partner family map makes pain and blame and unhappiness for everyone. The good news is that there are things that work to meet these (big!) challenges. But what works is often quite different from what works in a first-partner family. Join us to learn evidence-based strategies to meet the unique needs of “blended families.” | | Patricia Papernow, EdD has taught about “blended families” and post-divorce parenting all over the U.S. and the world, sharing what 5 decades of research and clinical work tells us about best practices for meeting the often-intense challenges for kids and adults. She has authored dozens of articles and book chapters about stepfamilies as well as some of the leading books in the field, including Surviving and Thriving in Stepfamily Relationships: What Works and What Doesn’t, and, with Karen Bonnell, The Stepfamily Handbook: From Dating to Getting Serious to Forming a “Blended Family.” Patricia is a psychologist in Hudson, MA. She sits on the Experts Council of the National Stepfamily Resource Center and is a member of the NSRC advanced training faculty. She is the recipient of the award for Distinguished Contribution to Family Psychology from the Society for Couple and Family Therapy (American Psychological Association) and the Award for Distinguished Contribution to Couple and Family Therapy from the American Family Therapy Academy. | | | |
Registration
Members: $15
Non-Members: $50
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Certificate of Attendance
Members: $15
Non-members: $20
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AFCC DE&I Webinar Series
The Intersection of Family Court, Religion, and Tradition
Leah R. Younger, PsyD & Darrin W. Gerson, PsyD
Wednesday, October 11, 2023
4:00pm-6:00pm Eastern Time (US & Canada)
Registration closes October 10, 2023, at 9am Eastern Time US
Registration is free, but you must register in order to receive the link to join the webinar.
Family law professionals bring a unique set of biases and opinions to their work. Personal backgrounds and experiences inform how clients, their families, and their traditions are viewed - as well with the actual work professionals provide. In this webinar, the presenters will discuss the various religious and cultural issues that often present for family law professionals. They will also share the numerous experiences they have had when working with clients of various religious backgrounds, and with the intersection of religion and cultural traditions. Attendees will have the opportunity to increase their awareness of variations and nuances that have implications for parenting plans, agreements between parents, and court orders. The presenters will review how their interventions have been informed to meet the needs of their clients.
| | Leah R. Younger, PsyD, is a licensed psychologist in New York State. After working in elementary schools and child inpatient settings, Dr. Younger obtained postdoctoral training and has been practicing in the fields of child and forensic psychology since. In her current role as Clinical Director of Younger Psychology, Dr. Younger provides a wide range of child and divorce-related services. These include performing assessments and therapeutic interventions with diverse populations of children, adults, and families. Dr. Younger also provides trial consultation services, including testifying as an expert witness and conducting peer review. Dr. Younger performs these functions for families involved in Family and Supreme Courts of Nassau County, Richmond County, Kings County, Queens County, and New York County. | | | Darrin W. Gerson, PsyD, a clinician at Younger Psychology, Dr. Gerson is a New York State licensed psychologist with extensive experience working with children, adolescents, and adults in a host of settings including inpatient, residential, and outpatient facilities. He is currently the Chief of Service at Creedmoor Psychiatric Center. Dr. Gerson conducts psychological evaluations across Long Island and New York City for parties including DSS/ACS, OCFS, Family Court and Supreme Court, and has provided a range of other assessments, including focused diagnostic evaluations and in-depth evaluations of competency and risk assessment. | | | |
More Upcoming Webinars!
Allan Barsky, MSW, JD, PhD
December 11, 2023
Confirmation Bias: Getting it Backwards in High Conflict Cases (and How to Correct It)
Bill Eddy, LCSW, Esq.
January 11, 2024
Equal Parenting Time in Practice and Policy: A Friendly Debate and Discussion
William V. Fabricius, PhD & Michael Saini, PhD
February 13, 2024
Family Matters 2.0: Navigating Family Law in the Age of AI
Susan Guthrie, JD
March 5, 2024
The "Good Enough" Parenting Plan Evaluation
Leslie Drozd, PhD
April 9, 2024
Barbara Fidler, PhD, CPsych & Stacey Platt, JD
May 8, 2024
The Hats We Wear as Court Experts: Roles, Conflicts, and Helpfulness
Jeffrey Wittmann, PhD
June 18, 2024
| | Family Court Review Going Digital in 2024 | | |
AFCC’s quarterly journal, Family Court Review (FCR), will be disseminated exclusively in digital format beginning in January 2024. According to AFCC President Stacey Platt, “This reflects the AFCC Board’s desire to support efficient, effective, and environmentally friendly dissemination of FCR, enabling publication of a greater number of high quality articles on an ongoing basis. Articles will be posted for Early View as soon as they are ready rather than waiting for print production.”
Family Court Review is the world’s #1 ranked family and juvenile law journal, according to the Washington & Less Law Journal Rankings. Since 2005, AFCC readership has expanded beyond AFCC membership from fewer than 150 print subscriptions to access by nearly 6,500 institutions worldwide, with more than 160,000 online article views annually.
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Access the FCR Online!
Starting January 2024, AFCC members will be notified when new volumes are released. All FCR articles will be posted to the FCR archives which can be accessed via the member center on the AFCC website. There you can read any new articles or previous articles you may have missed.
Make sure to sign up for alerts for when a new article is published in FCR which will allow you to stay up to date on the latest research.
| | Justice Debra Paulseth, AFCC member from Ontario, has been awarded the 2023 Dena Moyal Award for Distinguished Services by the Ontario chapter of AFCC. Debra has led and worked on reforms as well as served the family justice community in evolving capacities over the years and has acted as a mentor to many. Congratulations, Debra! | | | |
AFCC eNEWS
The AFCC eNEWS is the monthly e-newsletter of the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts. The eNEWS provides up-to-date information for professionals including practice tips, international news, and the latest initiatives in family law and conflict resolution. The AFCC eNEWS is provided at no charge to you; anyone can subscribe. Subscribe here.
AFCC members are free to share eNEWS content.
EDITOR:
Ann Ordway, JD, PhD
ASSOCIATE EDITOR:
Patrick Sommer
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