Guardian ad Litem
Guardian ad Litem (GAL) is a court appointed professional responsible for representing the best interest of a child or children in divorce and parenting plan proceedings. Focusing on the best interests of the child allows a GAL to objectively navigate the highly partisan, adversarial, and polarized conflicts inherent in high-conflict parenting plan and divorce proceedings. In Montana, A GAL is usually an attorney (I am not an attorney). However, in some situations, the court will appoint a mental health professional as GAL when questions of mental health, family functioning, and parental alienation are prominent.
I have worked with court involved families and individuals for my entire career and have successfully completed formal GAL appointments as well as court mandated assessments and therapy that were integral in parenting plan decisions and implementation.
GAL work is separate from Mental Health counseling. While I do both types of work, they do not intermingle. I do not accept GAL appointments to cases where I have been involved as a mental health therapist, and I do not accept therapy cases associated with cases where I have been a GAL. GAL work cannot be billed to medical insurance and is billed as a fee-for-service based on an hourly rate.
My Philosophy
My aim is to facilitate the most comprehensive relationship possible between parent and child(ren) while also ensuring safety for the child(ren).
I firmly support the prevailing mental health and legal premise that it is best for a child to have an ongoing, substantive, consistent relationship with each parent. In an ideal world, a child would have significant relationships with both parents that are flexible, adaptive, and nurturing. In practice, there are many barriers to the ideal parent-child relationship in high-conflict parenting situations.
The following steps are laid out in sequence, but in reality, this is not a linear process, and the steps below often happen concurrently.
The first task for a GAL is to assess the current situation, review previous filings and decisions, gather collateral information, evaluate the claims and counter-claims of each party, and ensure safety for the child. This can be a long and drawn-out process since many cases that end up with a GAL have a long history of conflict and competing claims.
The second task is to clearly outline the needs of the child or children and determine whether and how those needs are being met. Comparing the needs of the child to the ability of the parents (and others) to meet those needs creates a simple “Gap” analysis that naturally leads to a set of recommendations for interventions. Interventions are also needed to simply get more information to make critical decisions or to see if a “gap” actually exists at all.
These interventions (counseling, psychological assessments, school testing, substance use assessments and others) can be for children, parents, and entire family units, and are designed to repair relationships, assess claims, impart skills, and create understanding. GAL work is about finding ways each parent can have a quality relationship with their child. It is not about picking winners and losers in a case.
After services are engaged, there will (hopefully) be more clarity about how to proceed. Eventually, the court needs to reach a decision or approve a parenting plan. After all, part of what a child (and everyone else) needs is a predictable schedule and a coherent plan for the future.
Sometimes it becomes clear that it is not in a child’s best interest to have a full, robust, and flexible relationship with a parent. Sometimes, it becomes clear that a child can only have a very minimal, restricted relationship with a parent. These are cases where there are significant safety issues related to parent-child contact. Safety issues include not only physical dangers to a child, but also the risk of emotional or developmental harm.
I am a member of the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts (AFCC).
For more information on GAL guiding principles in Montana, please see the Fourth Judicial District (Montana) guidelines for parenting plans.
For more information on the intersection between Family Law and Mental Health, please see the website for the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts.