Recent Event
When You Love Someone: The Child’s View of Parental Conflict and Divorce, a Presentation of Lecture, Music and Hollywood Highlights, by Dr. Michael Donner and Dr. Dale Siperstein
WHY: The goal of Child Centered Solutions is to protect the rights of children during family conflicts. The intended audience is professionals working with very distressed families (Judges, Attorneys, Therapists, School Counselors, and Social Workers). This presentation will focus on children’s developmental needs, concerns and preoccupations when families become undone.
The seminar will educate professionals through an in-depth presentation of an early interventions approach to managing children’s developmental needs within the context of parental conflict. Presenters will discuss relevant research regarding the risks and benefits of assumptions about feasible parenting plans, as well as management of these issues after a parenting plan is determined. Attendees will learn how attorneys, mediators, evaluators, child representatives and courts can increase a child’s mental health and provide more responsive family legal services in relation to a child’s developmental needs.
WHEN: September 13, 2019, from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
WHERE: Portland State University, Smith Memorial Student Union Ballroom, 1825 SW Broadway.
WHO: Dr. Donner has a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology, is the Dean of the Child Psychotherapy Training Program at the San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis, and is the author of numerous articles including “Tearing the Child Apart,” which reviewed the problem of parents acting against their children’s best interests. Dr. Siperstein. MFT, PhD, ABPP, is a Doctor of Philosophy in Clinical Psychology and a Specialist in Forensic Psychology, a Specialty of the American Board of Professional Psychology, a professor at The Wright Institute in Berkeley, and has presented many seminars, most recently A Collaborative Model for Educating Psychological Assessors at the Society for Personality Assessment.
WHAT: The seminar will cover the following topics:
I. Introduction and Overview
Variables Identified that Reliably Predict Different Outcomes of Children’s Reactions to Divorce
Children’s Reaction to Separation, Conflict, Relationship to Parents, Remarriage, Type of Custody Arrangement
II. Children Across the Developmental Spectrum
How Different Ages Understand their Family Disruption and Cope with Separation and Conflict
Infants, Toddlers and Elementary School Age
Adolescents; Tasks of Adolescent Development and Coping with Parental Separation
III. Tailoring Interventions; Clinicians in the Courtroom
Guidelines in parenting plans
Family dynamics + high conflict
Assessment and treatment of estrangement in parent/child contact problems
Six hours of MCLE General Credits have been approved. Sign up is on a first come, first served basis as space is limited to 200 people. The cost will is only $100. DVDs of the seminar will be available for purchase.
Past Events
2015
Representing Children in Custody and Parenting Time Cases
7/10/15: Helen Hierschbiel - Oregon State Bar, Honorable Michael C. Sullivan, Alison Emerson - Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner, and Dr. Deborah Coehlo - Juniper Pediatrics presented a CLE on the difficulties of representing a child in custody and the logistics surrounding parenting time cases.
2014
Training for Lawyers Representing Children
6/5/14: CCS presented a CLE focused on lawyers representing minors in Multnomah County. The training materials are available here.
2010
Tearing the Child Apart
11/5/10: Nationally acclaimed psychologist, Dr. Michael B. Donner, Ph.D., presented a CLE/CE seminar for attorneys and social workers describing the personality disorders that drive parents to harm their children during family conflicts. The seminar also detailed updates on the Oregon’s Mandatory Child Abuse Reporting laws and hosted a panel discussions about professional ethics. This seminar streamed live to a law office in Bend, Oregon where attorneys participated for CLE credit — a first for CCS.
Child Centered Solutions Spring Benefit Luncheon
3/4/10: The annual CCS Spring Benefit Luncheon, held at the Multnomah Athletic Club, drew a crowd of 260 guests and raised $51,000. The funds support the three programs for children involved in high-conflict divorce and custody cases: free legal representation to children from low-income families, training for professionals who work with the children, and public education.
Representing Children in Custody and Parenting Time Cases
2/*/10: Leslie Abraham, of CCS, and Helen Hierschbiel, of the Oregon State Bar, presented a CLE seminar in Clackamas County on the role of the child’s attorney and the ethical challenges of representing children.
2009
Age Appropriate Parenting Plans
11/13/09: Dr. Philip M. Stahl, Ph.D., ABPP (Forensic), presented a CLE seminar on the developmental perspective of children’s needs regarding divorce and parenting issues.
Effective Representation of Children
6/12/09: Helen M. Hierschbiel, Dr. Charlene Sabin, Leslie Abraham and Jenny Gilmore present a CLE seminar on topics surrounding representation of children, including: child abuse reporting, mandatory reporting, role of a child’s attorney, meeting with a child client, dealing with pro se parents, and more.
2008
Parenting Coordination: What is It, Who Needs It, and How Does it Work?
12/12/08: Dr. Joan B. Kelly, Ph.D., presented an in-depth seminar on parenting coordination, including a focus on how the process works, inclusion of children in the process, and ethical issues surrounding high family conflict.
Handling High Conflict Families while Helping their Children
6/13/08: CCS partnered with the Henry L. Hillman, Jr. Foundation to present on strategies to help children involved in high conflict family disputes. The event was advertised in The Nexus, a newsletter of the National Association of Social Workers (Oregon chapter).
2007
Putting Children at the Center of the Solution through Effective Representation of Children
11/30/07: CCS partnered with nationally recognized expert, author and speaker, Risa Garon, who presented a full-day training seminar (7.25 CLE credits) for attorneys representing children in custody and parenting time disputes.
Risk and Resiliency in Children of Separation and Divorce: Research Updates and Implications
5/7/07: CCS partnered with Dr. Joan Kelly, Ph.D., who presented on the implications of divorce and separation on children. This seminar qualified legal professionals for Continuing Legal Education credit and social work professionals could also obtain Continuing Education credits.