Families Divided™ is a parent education program for divorcing
parents, which has been approved by the Chief Justice of the Massachusetts
Probate & Family Court and meets the mandate for education for parents
filing for divorce.
A goal of Families Divided™ is to empower parents to recognize
that they are the experts on their own children and that they will
make the difference in how their children are impacted by the divorce.
This philosophy, presented at the beginning of the 5 hours, helps to immediately
put participants at ease and reduces resistance related to the mandate
of being there. Once this is accomplished, group members are at ease to
both listen to the content of the program and to share their own thoughts
and experiences.
Families Divided™ is based on the very latest research on
divorce. Part interactive, part lecture, it also makes use of an excellent
video, "Children: The Experts on Divorce" which features children
speaking from their own experience of going through a parent's divorce.
The video was awarded 1995 "Best in Media" by Children's Rights Council
in Washington, D. C.
The actual content of Families Divided™ includes all of
the information required by the MA Probate Court plus more. There is a
strong emphasis throughout the five hours on the necessity to reduce conflict
between the divorcing parents. Several innovative and easy techniques
are taught in order to help participants gain distance, both physical
and emotional, from their spouse. A continuum from parallel parenting
to co-parenting is demonstrated and explained to help parents recognize
the parenting styles for divorced parents and understand where they are
on the continuum now and where they might like to be in the future. Through
the use of brainstorming, participants are encouraged to share their own
conflictual situations and ways they have found to be helpful in dealing
with them.
The outline of the program is as follows:
WEEK 1:
- Philosophy & objectives of Families Divided™
- Introduction of leaders & agency
- Divorce statistics (handout)
- The emotional process/stages of divorce for parents
- Children's reactions & developmental stages (handout)
- Ten things parents can do that will benefit their children (handout)
WEEK 2:
- Parallel parenting vs. Co-parenting
- Conflict resolution techniques
- Talking to your children about the divorce (handout)
- Active listening & reflective responses (video)
- When adults need help
- When children need help
- Information about community resources
- Wrap-up, evaluations, certificates
REGISTRATION
You may register for Families Divided™ by mail or online.
