2024 Annual CCE Update

CCE Update 2024

Hosted by: Lori A. Love, Ph.D.

Instructors: Hon. Margo Lewis Hoy (Ret.), Allan Barsky, JD, MSW, Ph.D., Sandra L. Mayberry, J.D., Benjamin D. Garber, Ph.D., Mesha Ellis, Ph.D.

Approved for 8.0 Hours of CE Credit

Fulfills License Requirements

Program Description:

The research presented in this update explores the intersection of identity, community, and conflict resolution, offering critical insights for child custody evaluators. Understanding individual narratives within the broader context of collective experiences is vital, fostering empathy and deeper connections among family members. This awareness is particularly important for evaluators who must appreciate children's unique challenges and identities, ensuring their voices and experiences are acknowledged in the custody process.

Additionally, the focus on conflict resolution and the importance of communication underscores the necessity for evaluators to facilitate open dialogue between parents. This update covers family dynamics such as parent-child relationships, blended families, and extended family relationships, highlighting the complexities evaluators must consider in their assessments. Emphasizing active listening and collaborative approaches can help mitigate disputes, especially in situations where differing views on a child's gender identity may lead to conflict. By promoting healthier co-parenting arrangements, evaluators can enhance trust and cooperation, which are essential for the well-being of the child.

Moreover, examining the impact of social dynamics on group behavior can inform evaluations involving transgender children. The course content will explore the importance of assessing the health, welfare, and safety and the best interest of the child or children involved in contested child custody proceedings. Understanding how family interactions and societal perceptions affect a child's identity and experience can lead to more informed custody recommendations. By integrating these perspectives, child custody evaluators can make holistic assessments that prioritize the best interests of transgender children and their families, fostering supportive environments where all identities are respected, and the psychological and developmental needs of all children are met.

The update will also focus on the legal context within which child custody and visitation issues are decided, such as legal and ethical standards, new and controlling case law, and procedures to be considered when serving as a child custody evaluator.

Breakout Courses:

We offer certain presentations from this update as stand alone courses:

• "Parenting Plan Evaluations involving Transgender and Gender-Diverse Youth: Psychosocial and Legal Perspectives” by Allan Barsky, JD, Ph.D. (2.0 CE)
• "Minimizing Bias and Premature Closure: A Rubric for the Evaluation and Adjudication of Resist/Refuse Dynamics" by Ben Garber, Ph.D. (2.0 CE)
• "Considerations of Culture and Religion for the Child Custody Evaluator" by Mesha Ellis, Ph.D. (1.5 CE)

Looking for the 2024 Annual IPV Update? Find it Here.

Goals & Objectives:

At the conclusion of this program, participants will be able to:

1. Describe the role of cultural and religious factors in child custody evaluations.
2. Discuss culturally competent practices among evaluators.
3. Describe different types of transition for transgender and gender-diverse youth, including social, psychological, medical, and legal transitions.
4. Apply strategies for incorporating cultural and religious considerations into custody evaluations effectively.
5. Assess levels of parental support and dis-support and their impact on transgender and gender-diverse youth.
6. Apply the principles of gender-affirming practice, cultural humility, and a person-centered approach to gathering information and evaluating the dynamics of a family with transgender and gender-diverse youth.
7. Develop parenting recommendations based on an unbiased evaluation process, evidence-based research, and standards of care that promote the youth’s safety and psychosocial well-being while considering the perspectives of the parents and youth.
8. Explain why family law matters are about relationships, not individuals.
9. Recognize and eschew binary approaches to Parent-Child Contact Problems (PCCP).
10. Describe the Ecological Model and be able to use the Rubric to guide the evaluation of Parent-Child Contact Problems (PCCP).

Registration Information     $279.00

CE Approval Information The Steve Frankel Group, LLC is approved by the American Psychological Association (APA) to sponsor continuing education for Psychologists. This course is also approved by the California Board of Behavioral Sciences (BBS) for its licentiates' CE license renewal requirements. The Steve Frankel Group, LLC maintains responsibility for this program and its content. This course meets the qualifications for 8.0 hours of CE credit for Psychologists, MFTs, LCSWs, and LPCCs. The course outline or agenda for Child Custody training have been approved as corresponding to subject areas specified in California Rules of Court, rules 5.225 and 5.230, et. seq. The views expressed in these trainings are those of the trainers and do not necessarily represent the official positions or policies of the Judicial Council of California.