The Child Specialist in Collaborative Divorce

While not all collaborative attorneys use a full team as above, the child specialist's role has two major features that remain fairly constant. First, the child specialist brings into the collaborative process an expertise in child emotional and cognitive development, in temperamental differences, in the parenting styles appropriate to each and in family systems so that the clients' children remain a central concern. This expertise distinguishes the child specialist from a general mental-health practitioner and from a law guardian, either of whom may be comfortable with kids, but may not have this specific expertise.

Second, by meeting with the children, the child specialist offers them direct support and offers their parents and the collaborative team a three-dimensional view of the children, pressing the parents to reach beyond their personal turmoil and differences toward a co-parenting partnership. Many parents differ on how best to raise one or all of their children. These differences worsen under the stress of the divorce and in the mutual disappointment that forms its foundation. The child specialist identifies and speaks for the needs of the children so that the parents can refocus on their children in making decisions about their future. Thus, the settlement is informed by what the child specialist learns, facilitated by the team, but defined by the parents. Unlike a forensic specialist, the child specialist's effectiveness is grounded in the team's collaborative process and in the normal, integrative authority of the parents, not in the competitive processes of litigation or in the external authority of a judge and court.