Parenting Plan Evaluations & Brief Focused Assessments

A Parenting Plan Evaluation (PPE) is a comprehensive report intended to provide the Court and the family with an in-depth understanding of family dynamics and offers parenting plan recommendations. The process involves extensive interviews with family members and others, review of legal and psychological records, and, when indicated,  psychological assessment.

I specialize in PPEs involving allegations of domestic violence, sexual abuse and/or parental mental illness. I work with children of all ages and have expertise with young children, birth to five, who are especially vulnerable to adverse impact from high parental conflict. 

With cases in which the Court has a narrower question, a Brief Focused Assessment (BFA) may be appropriate. BFAs address specific issues, such as school choice, parental mental illness or allegations of physical abuse.  These evaluations usually take less time than PPEs, and spare families some cost. 

Family Therapy, Coparenting Counseling & Child Custody Mediation

​I provide family, couples and coparenting counseling. I also meet with parents for confidential child custody mediation and recommending child custody mediation. I specialize in working with high-conflict couples, helping them to focus on the impact of conflict on child-development. I work with children of all ages, but I have expertise in working with young children (birth to five) in particular.

In my experience, young children are often overlooked in these painful transitions, because they cannot verbalize loss and do not show signs of grief in the same way that older children do. Much of what occurs with young children around timeshares is assumed to be "just fine," because there is no solid evidence of protest, or no clear way to interpret the signals the child offers. And, you can just override it anyway. (You can't pick up an adolescent and stick her in a carseat, but you can do that to a toddler.) And parents are all too quick to accept that everything is fine with a baby, because they are often preoccupied with their own grief and anger, so it's one less detail to have to worry about. Eventually an infant just stops crying and you can get on with your day.

In fact, babies and toddlers do provide clear messages indicating what they prefer, and there is a lot of information available regarding what is advisable for children beginning from birth.  I believe the mediation or coparenting process is an opportunity to think about who your infant or toddler is and what he or she may be experiencing. Coming together around a shared understanding of your child is, I believe, the definition of coparenting for kids of any age. 

​Psychotherapy

​I work with parents and infants or young children together in infant-parent and parent-child psychotherapy. Working with parents and infants or young children together is an intervention that is  often helpful when young children have been exposed to violence or other types of trauma. The parent-child relationship is viewed as the most effective means by which the child's traumatic experience may be addressed.

The child's symptoms are one focus. Exploring the protective role that the parent plays and the therapeutic value of supporting her or him in that role, or attempting to understand ways in which the parent is having difficulty fulfilling a protective role and helping the child to feel safe is another focus.  

I also work with children, adolescents and adults in individual short- and long-term treatments. Many of the adults with whom I work have relational issues, or struggle with anxiety, depression, and/or severe mental illness. I work with adolescents and young children who have emotional challenges, including those with histories of witnessing or being subjected to physical and/or sexual abuse. 

Parenting Coordinator Services

I provide parenting coordinator services from a developmental and psychoeducational perspective. My emphasis is on empowering parents to resolve their own issues to the greatest extent possible and to make choices on behalf of their children. I  don't insist on anything, but I do encourage parents to work toward coparenting, even when preferences to "parallel parent" are quite strong, because I believe that ultimately it is best for children if their parents work together in their interests.  

The "authority" bestowed upon a parenting coordinator, from my point of view, allows for the removal of impasses. I see the role as one of a facilitator, primarily providing support, and maintaining boundaries so that both parents can safely show up for the child(ren).

A clear and detailed parenting plan can go a long way toward resolving many of the conflicts parents experience. Ensuring that the families with whom I work have a current, nuanced, reasonable understanding of what is expected is a routine part of what we do together initially and on an ongoing basis.   

Psychological Evaluations

Psychological Evaluations: Individual psychological evaluations related to parenting capacity,  current level of functioning, differential diagnosis, personality profile, and risk assessment. 

Mental Health Court Evaluations: Evaluations for individuals charged with crimes, who may meet criteria for mental health diversion.