Neutral Child Specialist Role in Family Law

The neutral Child Specialist helps keep children at the center but never in the middle during break up and divorce.
The Child Specialist is a mental health professional with expertise in child development, child and adolescent psychology, family systems work and the principles of collaborative law/alternative dispute resolution. The Child Specialist teams with parents and the professionals assisting them in dissolution and post-dissolution decision-making about parenting plans. The Child Specialist offers a unique kind of support and advocacy for children as they are going through the transformation of their family from living under one roof to living under two roofs.

The neutral Child Specialist is a voice for children in the family during the family change process.
The work of the Child Specialist is tailored to the individual needs of the family and the professionals with whom they are working. The core guiding principles for this work include:

• Respect
• Neutrality
• Clear boundaries
• Transparency
• Time limited interventions
• Recommendations based on direct knowledge of the children and their developmental, educational, social and psychological needs
• Direct support for children during a stressful time in their lives
• Opportunity for children to have a voice without being asked to take sides