Role of the Child Specialist

The neutral collaborative Child Specialist provides expertise in areas related to children’s needs.  The Child Specialist may provide education and guidance to help parents meet the needs of their children.  This may include educating parents on the developmental and emotional needs of very young children or older teenagers, for example, or the impact of separation and divorce on children of various ages.  The Child Specialist can identify unique factors to consider when formulating a parenting plan and assist parents to develop different options and consider how well each option or component of a parenting plan may meet the needs of their children.   When parents are provided with in-depth knowledge of their children’s developmental needs as the family changes, parents are more able to craft child-centered and sensitive parenting plans.

A Child Specialist may also come onboard to help parents with individualized family needs, such as how to support a special-needs child through separation and divorce; how to support the children’s relationship with both parents when the children ares more closely aligned with one parent; or how to craft relevant and workable agreements.

Most Child Specialists are psychologists or social workers skilled in their profession and all have been collaboratively trained to work on your Collaborative Team.