Conference Program 2023

Professors Marilyn Freeman, University of Westminster London and Nicola Taylor, University of Otago New Zealand and Dr Astrid Martalas, South Africa and Dr Mia Dambach,

Ms Susan Warda, Partner Mills Oakley Sydney and Ms Bernie Bolger The Mediation Collective

Dr Phil Stahl, Parenting After Divorce, San Diego and Dr Phil Watts, Mindstate Psychology Perth

Dr Kaylene Evers, Psychologist Melbourne

Dr Simon Kennedy, Clinical & Forensic Psychologist Psychology Camberwell, Melbourne

This Institute focuses on identity issues impacting children and young people as these are emerging as important considerations within the family justice field. Article 8 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) 1989 requires States Parties to respect the right of the child to preserve his or her identity. This, however, seems to be a right which is hiding in plain sight, more easily recognised by law than by policy and practice. The Institute considers the psychological perspective of identity, what it means, and why it matters. We’ll consider a child’s established sense of self in the context of significant life events that affect children’s identity. Relocation disputes between parents and international child abduction will be addressed as examples of the areas of law and practice in which the issue of children’s identity may arise and have significant effect. Interactive exercises will then enable participants, working together in groups, to consider a range of diverse situations within the family justice field for their impact on a child’s identity (e.g., child protection / violence, surrogacy, adoption, gender dysphoria, forced marriage etc). The final session will include time for group discussion and consideration of identity issues in relation to participants’ own fields of practice.

The two Phil’s have been giving evidence in court, and teaching practitioners how to give expert evidence, for total of about 75 years. Dr Stahl has honed his skills through a fairly litigious US court system, while Dr Watts is familiar with the dynamics and foibles of the local system. Together they present a dynamic duo of knowledge. This half-day workshop is about how to give expert evidence in the witness box and will help you polish up your ability to enable you to shine as a top tier expert. Watts and Stahl will give multiple tips on style and substance as well as things to avoid. While a good report is essential for expert evidence, your demeanour and style in court will contribute greatly to the weight and value that report has on the case.

This session on practical considerations for family report writers in private practice will examine considerations in the decision to become a family report writer in private practice. Aimed at practitioners who want to become a family report writer in private practice, such as those who have some family report writing experience within the court system or experienced psychologist or social worker who are looking to engage in the work of family report writing. New graduates who want information exploring this career pathway are also welcome.
An established skill set within your professional discipline is assumed and the workshop will focus on some of the issues that, as a private report writer, you should now consider.
The workshop will move from pragmatic considerations of office location and set up, layout , equipment and the use of psychometric tools, to the process of engagement with parties, reviewing material supplied prior to meeting, and managing safety concerns and the comfort of parties and children to the consideration of the practitioner’s role in the process and the final production of the report.
A list of suggested readings will be provided.

Among the most complex aspects of producing family reports in family law proceedings is the decision-making in producing recommendations regarding time and care arrangements for children.
In other areas of forensic psychology, structural professional judgement approaches have been utilised to assist in evaluation of risk, and ultimately go to decision-making in a particular case.
Structural professional judgement utilises an approach where individual and/or contextual factors related to the specific issue, such as parenting risk, are evaluated through a combination of the factors.
Routinely, the factors may be seen as more or less important in a particular matter, and therefore are weighted accordingly.
Family reports involve assessing family and individual functioning, and then subsequently coming to conclusions regarding both the individuals and the family as a whole.
Cases differ however, with respect to the factors that are central to decision-making regarding care and time for children.
In this workshop, the factors that are routinely seen as central in the decision-making in family reports are identified, and are presented as a matrix.
In addition, a methodology to assist the decision-making process for family report writers is proposed.
The workshop will be in two parts, in part one, the central family factors are identified, and the decision-making methodology explained, and in part two, practical examples provided, with attendees utilising the approach to assist in decision-making on those family examples.

Presenters include: Ms Shaynna Blaze; Co-Founder, Director, Chairperson, Voice of Change

Dr Robert A. Simon, Ph.D., Forensic Psychology Consulting

Ms Jade Blakkarly; CEO, WIRE

Children are referred to the Institute of Family Therapy-Malta from various settings, most
already carrying a diagnosis of one or more disorders, the most common of which include
ADHD, ADD, ODD, deliberate self harm, or suicide contemplation. Our work has revealed
that most of these children concurrently experience marital/parental discord and fearfully
anticipate marital separation. Other children witness high conflict parental relationships,
marital separation and foster care. Occasionally a child vehemently and aggressively refuses
to see a previously loved parent. This is typically visible during high conflict legal separation
processes or in foster care situations. Much attention recently focused on crisis management
and reunification programs, assessment tools, and legal interventions. Research on the very
early signs of Parental Alienation (PA) is non-existent. Both clinical experience and literature
have taught us that the process of marital separation starts much earlier than the actual legal
filing of the request (Dominion 1979, Gottman, 2000), and in a much calmer space. Most of
the children’s behavioural problems encountered at family therapy clinics are often systemic
metaphorical homeostatic (Minuchin, 1981) self-protective representations of the children's
worries about their family’s anticipated doom. Such behaviours can potentially be alienation
from impending parental alienation. Early detection of these signs can help identify and
predict risk of PA. The development of a Risk Assessment tool is now inevitably needed to
guide front line professionals to intervene timely to prevent Parental Alienation in which the bestinterest of the child remains a priority.

Australian Family law requires that the wishes of children are taken into account when considering their best interests. There is a conundrum in that mature minors are involved and live through the complex court process but receive very little, if any, direct communication from the Court. Limiting their involvement is designed to limit harm. However, not talking to them can also be harmful.

This presentation brings together an experienced forensic psychologist Dr Phil Watts and experienced barrister Rachel Oakeley to look at some of the clever and creative ways the Legal system has sought to lower harm by informing teens of the court outcomes. Four unique redacted cases will be discussed from both a legal and psychological point of view. These discussions will lead to an overall discussion of the questions of whether children should be involved in the court process or not, given they are living it. How can we better explain that they have a voice, but ultimately, not a choice.

Complex Cases which come before Family Courts around the world need the best possible information about all those involved, adults and children. In most Family Court matters it is the vast knowledge base of the social sciences and especially psychology that is best going to aide in high quality decisions making and successful outcomes. This presentation will look at how current and up to date psychological science and its knowledge base can inform and support both the participants and decision making in the more complex cases that come to Courts (High Conflict, Resist Refuse, Hague etc).For practitioners it encourages a review of how up to date your engagement with your science is and for lawyers and judges (and indeed parties) it will give you a sense of what you should be seeing in the reports coming before you.

This workshop introduces participants to unconscious bias, its implications for rational decision-making, the neuroscience behind it and the effects it plays on daily interactions with people from many diverse backgrounds. Through some powerful storytelling, participants are expected to learn, reflect and challenge traditional notions of self-awareness.

Ms Zoë Lawton, Lawyer and teaching fellow University of Auckland School of Law, New Zealand
Mr Kieran Pender, Writer, lawyer and academic Australian National University College of Law, Canberra

Ms Suzie Delbridge, Delbridge Forensic Accounting, Newcastle, Ms Olivia Grobtuch, Kennedy Partners, Melbourne, and Dr Rachel Carson, Australian Institute of Family Studies, Melbourne

Dr Alison O'Neill, Sydney Collective Psychology, Sydney and Dr Phil Stahl, Parenting After Divorce, San Diego

This interactive workshop will explore contemporary ethical issues facing the legal profession and encourage through-provoking discussion. We will begin by examining the perception of lawyers both by the public and the profession itself, questioning whether lawyers are viewed as ethical and how we can measure ethical behaviour. The workshop will then explore some complex ethical challenges, including the impact of the #metoo movement on workplace sexual harassment in the legal profession and developments on protections for public interest whistle-blowers, including lawyers. Finally, the workshop will feature a hands-on hackathon that will allow participants to test and explore the use of ChatGPT, highlighting the potential benefits and limitations of this rapidly advancing technology.

The Longitudinal Study of Separated Parents and Stepfamilies in Quebec is a large population-based study dealing specifically with issues of parental separation with a representative sample of mothers and fathers (1551 parents, mothers = 761; fathers = 790, separated for about 2 years, completed 3 online questionnaires with 24-month intervals). The study was designed to capture the complexity of the issues and impacts of family separation, the evolving nature of family transitions. and more specifically the individual, family, and social factors associated with the development of a conflictual co-parenting relationship after separation. Most studies on parental separation generally collect data from the mother. The reality of father is thus often little studied, but our study helps to fill this gap. The elements that distinguish fathers from mothers in their experience of conflictual separation will then be developed. The presentation will allow for a better understanding of the trajectory of separated families and will contribute to the development of targeted practices based on individual parent characteristics.

Despite more than 40 years of workshops and trainings, Guidelines, and journal articles related to Parenting Plan Evaluations (PPE), many Family Report Writers still have considerable challenges understanding this challenging work. In this workshop, the presenters, who have more than 50 years of combined experience with these cases, will identify the mindset and the skills needed to assess and write a high-quality reports. The presenters will also provide examples of defective work, biased evaluations, and fatal flaws to help participants use the new AFCC Guidelines and research to understand ways to improve the quality and consistency of their work.
For Family Report Writers, this workshop will teach critical skills to help learn what makes a good assessment and how to avoid bad or ugly evaluations. For lawyers, this workshop is designed to teach them how to critique a report. For judges, this workshop will help give guidance on the weight to give to a report, or elements of the assessment or even when to throw out a report as being inadequate, when making decisions in complex family court matters.

Sponsored by Resolve Conflict Ms Nadine Udorovic from Nicholes Family Lawyers and Ms Catherine Gale, Ms Alyson Gale from Resolve Conflict Family Lawyers.

Professor Lawrence Moloney, Professor Daryl Higgins, Australian Catholic University

Ms Amanda Graham Senior Lecturer Faculty of Law at Monash University, Ms Cassandra Pullos and Dr Anne Purcell Parenting Coordination Australia

To a child of separated parents, their family unit often literally moves from one to two homes. If there is dysregulation, conflict and lack of continuity in parenting across both houses, this can make the adjustment for children from one house to two, all the more difficult. Resolve Conflict Family Lawyers and Nicholes Family Lawyers will present on ‘Our Family in Two Homes’ and include a panel discussion and some role play to demonstrate how this new and innovative dispute resolution process works. OFITHS gives parties the opportunity to jointly invest their time and resources in the future of their family, instead of engaging in litigation which can deplete parties both financially and emotionally and can ultimately place further strain on co-parenting relationships. The OFITH model can assist clients to reach respectful and durable solutions they can live with.

Supervised Contact Services play an important role during family separation. Especially if there are serious allegations of child sexual abuse, domestic violence or drugs and alcohol misuse. At Children in FOCUS we provide safety to the children and a safeguard for parents who hate each other – either from further abuse or false allegations. We can guide parents where needed to ensure they feel supported and can parent naturally under supervision. Ultimately, we provide safety, opportunity & hope to the children and the parents who engage in our service.

We deal with all sorts of issues before, during and after the supervised visits. I will explain how we remain neutral and professional while managing difficult situations which arise during the visit. How do we keep the visits safe and fun at the same time? I will answer all these questions and unveil behind the scenes of the Supervised Contact Agency “Children in FOCUS” and share the good, the bad and the ugly of our daily operation. I will provide tips and suggestions on how everyone involved in the family law system can keep the focus on the children at all times to reach a better outcome for the family.

Parenting Coordinators are being increasingly included in parenting orders both during court proceedings and at the conclusion of court proceedings. This session will look at the developing landscape in relation to parenting coordination in Australia, what parenting coordination is and where it sits within the suite of family law services in Australia.