Lilly Pilly Blog
How Children React to Separation at Different Ages
Age 0-2 Typical Characteristics Infants are dependant on parents for meeting their needs They develop a sense of trust through having a predictable and consistent caregiver Separation Issues Infants may feel the loss of contact with a primary caretaking parent Loss of familiar and comfortable environment Do not understand conflict, but may react to changes in the parents energy level and mood. How They Might Show Their Stress Difficulty toileting or sleeping Slowing down in learning new skills A...
A Bill Of Rights for a Child of Separation
Unfortunately through the high emotion of a Family Law conflict we forget the most important ones in our lives. I was recently given a copy of A Bill Of Rights for a Child of Separation (pdf) Please feel free to download this page and place it on your fridge or on a wall somewhere close for you to remind you to stop for a moment and think ” it is not all about me “....
Children’s Responses to Parental Conflict in Separation
Through its prevalence and inherent risks, parental separation may fairly be regarded as a public health issue for children. WHY THIS TOPIC MATTERS The re-structuring of family life necessitated by separation and divorce involves multiple and complex adjustments for children. Often these combine to elevate risks of poor childhood outcomes across psychological, social, health and academic domains, reaching through to adulthood. Ongoing parenting conflict after separation and divorce further inc...
The Contact / Communication Book
At Lilly Pilly, when communication between parents is difficult, we encourage parents to start communicating with each other through the use of a contact or communication book. Typically the child/ren carry the book in their bag between visits to each parent. It is preferable if it is a medium sized, bound book with numbered pages (pages can tend to go missing). The contact book is about the children with regards to their needs and anything else you think could be relevant. Keep...
POP – Parenting Orders Programs
What is a Parenting Orders Program? A Parenting Orders Program is the name of a post separation parenting program under the Family Law Act. It helps separated parents work out arrangements that allow parents and other family members to spend time with the children. Why go to a Parenting Orders Program? Sometimes families who are separated are not able to agree about arrangements for seeing their children and cannot make parenting orders work. Parents may have been to court to...
Parenting Orders – what you need to know
A parenting order is a set of orders made by a court about parenting arrangements for a child. A court can make a parenting order based on an agreement between the parties (consent orders) or after a court hearing or trial. When a parenting order is made, each person affected by the order must follow it. A parenting order may deal with one or more of the following: who the child will live with how much time the child will...
The Twelve Golden Rules of Giving Evidence
As many people who are using the centre are unfortunately involved with various Court systems. I thought I would share a list of rules given to me by a very respected Queens Counsel. 1. Listen to the question. This is the first and most obvious rule. You would be surprised how many witnesses don’t 2. If you don’t hear or understand the question, say so. Don’t guess at what the barrister was asking. Don’t be afraid to say “I am sorry,...
The Conservative Approach
Many times parents are requested to participate in supervised contact with their children because Magistrates have not yet heard proper evidence. Whether it be allegations of Family Violence, Abuse, Alcohol, Magistrates will request a conservative approach until proper evidence of these allegations put forward can be heard. Many times both parents will allege actions that the other party may / may-not have done to try and benefit their case. Litigation, if you choose that path in your situa...
Shared Parenting
Many parents attend interviews for a Family Report and say they would like a shared parenting arrangement. So what is shared parenting and what makes it successful? In whose best interest is shared parenting and how does it impact on children? Shared parenting allows parents to both play a role in a child or children’s lives. It is an arrangement whereby the parents share the time the children spend with each parent. It can be on an equal 50:50 basis...