THE CHILD SPECIALIST AND THE COACH
There are significant differences between thetraditional adversary system of evaluations and therole of the child specialist and coach.
- The information from the child specialist is given to the persons who need it the most, the parents. Like a mediation session for child custody, the child specialist interviews the child or children, and shares impressions with the parents first.
- There are no depositions; there is no cross examination. The child specialist doesn’t have to spend countless hours on tests and interviews in anticipation of being questioned later. It’s like the physician who conducts extra tests and procedures, not because the patient needs it, but because not to do so could expose the physician to malpractice law suits.
- There is no written report that can be read years later by the children. Much damage is done when allegations, affairs, abuses are, “reduced to writing;” actually, writing allegations and critical impressions doesn’t usually reduce the harm. Many things contribute to a divorce and children seldom benefit when they hear the worse about their parents.
- Child specialists are able to actually help parents. Unlike like the evaluators who like judges at an Olympic ice skating event don’t develop relationships with the skaters, child specialists are seen as consultants, as helpers, to parents.
- Parents don’t sue Child Specialists or report them to the licensing boards. Private child custody evaluators and even the old Psychiatric Office, formerly based at the Superior Court of Los Angeles, have been sued. Complaints by unhappy litigants are being submitted to the state board that licenses mental health professionals. There have been no law suits or complaints to the licensing boards about coaches or child specialists in collaborative law.
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David Kuroda is the former Division Chief, Family Court Services, Superior Court of Los Angeles and directed the Mediation and Conciliation Service, the first and largest court mediation program in the nation.
In his 18 years with the Superior Court, he was responsible for the district courts, the PACT and Contemnors’ Programs, Divorce Seminars, and Visitation Monitors. Under his leadership, the service set high standards for the mediation service and other innovative programs serving children and families of divorce.
He has served on numerous committees with the Judicial Council, Los Angeles County Bar Executive Committee, Family Law Section, and has collaborated on numerous programs with the bar associations of the South Bay, Beverly Hills, San Fernando Valley, and Long Beach. He’s the past vice-president of A Better Divorce: A group of collaborative professionals; he also serves as vice-president of the California Social Welfare Archives., on he advisory board of the Los Angeles Collaborative Family Law Association, and was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award by the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) California Chapter and with the George Nickel Award by the California Social Welfare Archives, USC.
In addition to directing the program, he has personally provided mediation services to over 7,000 families from the working poor to the wealthy and famous, including high profile cases and movie producers. Virtually all parents, whatever their backgrounds, love their children, and with some guidance, have been able to work together, even after divorce. Mr. Kuroda has provided training for graduate students from USC, and has taught professionals child custody mediation.