Ann:
You mentioned brain injury being involved in a case you just finished. May I
ask if it was one of the parties or a child with the brain injury? And, if a
party do you have any tips that helped the parties and the team be successful?
Was there an issue of competency? I have had an inquiry about a potential case
and one of the parties has a brain injury from an automobile accident. (I have
a
son with a brain injury from a car crash, thus the referral.)
Thank you,
Cheryl Smith
Cheryl Watson Smith, P.C.
Roanoke, VA
________________________________
From: Ann Gushurst <ann@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: CollabLaw@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Mon, January 24, 2011 6:01:12 PM
Subject: RE: [CollabLaw] Re: [collaborativelaw] Parenting Time Research?
A few years back I had the sad occasion to read as much of the literature
available on the ultimate result of parental conflict – alienation – and I was
actually not surprised to find that there is no research on the COMPARISON of
the damage done to a child forced to remain in the battle zone versus the
damage
done when a child loses one parent completely.
I strongly suspect that the children who end up alienated are picking a path
that makes psychological sense in that they are absenting themselves as best
they can from the constant conflict.
I have tried, usually in vain, to suggest to some clients involved in high
levels of parental conflict, that a better solution to the week-on week-off
constant battle is to adopt a 90% parenting plan to one parent during the
school
year and a 90% parenting plan to the other during the summer so that the
children can actually have time with a parent that is not interfered with or
held hostage. In the one or two instances where parents ended up with this
type
of plan (Mostly because, I am sad to say, one of them got relocated
involuntarily) the net result for the children appeared to be much better than
the many, many cases where the parents continued to fight year in and year out
about (pick any of the following, I’ve litigated them all: medical decisions,
what sports the kids could play, exchange of clothes, disparagement, time of
drop off, etc. etc. etc.)
In Colorado we seem to be defaulting to equal parenting time which to me is a
resounding reflection of the courts bowing to the political pressures to meet
the parents’ wishes to appear equal and to minimize child support. Since in
the
litigation context we overwhelmingly deal with conflicted parents, the idea
that
the most common solution to custody conflicts is that of equal parenting model
FLIES in the face of common sense and oh, yeah, objective empirical evidence
regarding the damage of parental conflict.
It makes me so sad.
By the way, just successfully finished a collaborative case today that was
awfully difficult – long term marriage, infidelity, brain injury, and well, it
was a most satisfying and wonderful conclusion. The parties had dignity, the
result was fair and unorthodox, and the family is transitioning but is still a
family. Why collaboration is not the “go to” solution rather than litigation
makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.
Ann Gushurst
Gutterman Griffiths PC
10375 Park Meadows Drive, Suite 520
Littleton, CO 80124
Phone: 303-858-8090
Fax: 303-858-8181
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