HELPING PARENTS AND THEIR KIDS
Written by Irene Apap, Supervising Lawyer, LAFDR.
Irene Apap, Supervising Lawyer, LAFDR and Jennifer Lindstrom, Legal Practice Manager & Principal Lawyer, Monash Law Clinics Melbourne.
Family Dispute Resolution (FDR) is a type of mediation which helps separated parents resolve disputes in relation to children with the assistance of an impartial mediator called a Family Dispute Resolution Practitioner.
In the Lawyer Assisted Family Dispute Resolution (LAFDR) clinic, students assist the supervising lawyer from Monash Law Clinics in a LAFDR session and represent one of the parents during mediation. The other parent is represented by a lawyer from another Community Legal Centre.
Our LAFDR Clinic has been assisting a particular parent client since 2023. This client is the parent of a young child with complex needs. Unfortunately, negotiations with the other parent over how best to parent this child were at a stalemate, with no resolution in sight.
In early 2024 our client disclosed to us for the first time that they were affected by a learning disability. It appears that they were embarrassed to tell us earlier. With this important information, our clinic changed the way we communicated with our client. We increased the use of phone calls instead of emails or letters, which allowed us to better support the client.
As a result, we were then able to progress the matter by assisting the client through multiple mediations in 2024. This ultimately led to both parties agreeing to consent orders that modified the existing outdated parenting arrangements. LAFDR supervisors Irene Apap, Adiva Sifris, and the LAFDR students took the time to conduct detailed calls with the client, ensuring that they fully understood everything outlined in the proposed consent orders, so they could make an informed decision.
We are thrilled to have assisted this family in bringing this matter to a successful conclusion without having to commence lengthy and stressful court litigation.