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For the entirety of 9-year-old Tyrone’s life, his mother has struggled with addiction. Although she has attended a number of treatment programs, her successes in recovery did not last. Many of her relationships were violent—Tyrone feared for his life, even running away from home to a police station to seek safety. Although he had previously spent two years in foster care and never had a relationship with his biological father, that changed when his mother was discovered on the streets, high on PCP. At that point, Tyrone’s father became more present in his life and sought to gain custody, claiming that the mother was the reason for his absence in Tyrone’s life in the first place.

An attorney from The Children’s Law Center spoke with Tyrone, who was reluctant to provide any substantive information. He noted that when he tells people things about his home life, his mother always finds out and gets upset, so it’s better for him to stay silent.

Tyrone, who had recently been diagnosed with Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, and ADHD, simply stated that he felt sad all the time.

Faced with a Department of Children and Families (DCF) removal from his mother’s home, the CLC supported Tyrone’s placement with his father, who had been having positive supervised visitation sessions and appeared committed to parenting Tyrone. Initially, things seemed to be going well. While it looked like it would take some time to adjust to the new living situation, both Tyrone and his father were putting in the effort to make things work. Unfortunately, this did not last. Tyrone’s father became verbally abusive and extreme in his reactions to Tyrone’s behavior, breaking Tyrone’s belongings and forcing him to sleep on the floor. Both CLC and DCF continued to try and work with Tyrone and his father, but again these successes were not long-lasting. It had reached the point where it was necessary to remove Tyrone from his father’s home.

Since then, Tyrone has been living with his maternal great aunt. Three of his cousins also live there, and it’s a lively household. Tyrone continues to have complaints about his living situation, but they are typical for a child his age: his aunt is strict, he has to follow rules and there are chores he has to do. Tyrone’s father again has disappeared from his life and his mother continues to work towards sobriety.

Although the outcome of this case is not ideal, it is the best possible outcome for Tyrone at this point in time.

He is able to live in a safe, stable, happy home with his great aunt while also maintaining a relationship with his mother. Once his mother achieves sustained stability, Tyrone will be able to expand that relationship with the potential to move back in with her. This case could have resulted in Tyrone being injured, being placed in foster care once again, or with the termination of parental rights. Instead, Tyrone maintains a relationship with his mother while living in a safe, happy home with his aunt.

When you first meet Dr. Eric Frazer, one thing is clear: he is passionate about and dedicated to helping children, parents, and professionals involved in the family court process. The Children’s Law Center of Connecticut has been lucky enough to benefit from Dr. Frazer’s knowledge and support over the years through his many professional trainings on challenging family law topics and free access to Child Custody Analytics, the online program he co-founded to help attorneys through complex family court matters.

Dr. Frazer is a licensed clinical psychologist with a specialty in Forensic Psychology, and his resume does not end there: among many other professional accomplishments, he has more than 16 years of experience conducting psychological evaluations, co-founded Child Custody Analytics, holds a part-time faculty position at Yale Medical School, and regularly provides trainings to the CT Bar Association and other legal and professional groups.

Dr. Frazer was first introduced to CLC several years ago when we asked for his help with forensic evaluations for our clients. “It was an opportunity to do positive work for clients, but it was also a great way for me to learn more about [CLC] and the important services you provide—legal representation, mediation, and more.” He added that CLC’s mission resonated with him, as we hold child-centered values at the core of our work.

Since that initial ask for help with evaluations, CLC is grateful to have had Dr. Frazer return to our offices for many trainings not only for our staff, but also for other attorneys and mental health professionals in the family law field. His trainings focus on the most challenging topics and psycholegal intersections that professionals face, such as substance abuse and access schedules, coercion and domestic violence, and relocation. Dr. Frazer is enthusiastic about the trainings, which give him an opportunity to bring together legal topics with psychological research. He states, “the intersection between psychological issues and the law brings lots of challenges, and these trainings help work to bridge that gap.” He strives to make these trainings more than just lectures and structures them to be multi-disciplinary discussions and collaborations about the toughest issues professionals tackle in the family law discipline.

Dr. Frazer also provides a great resource to CLC and the rest of the international family law professional community through his company Child Custody Analytics, providing attorneys with expert child custody and psychological information they need to provide solutions to those complicated issues. After being involved in family law cases for many years as evaluators, co-parenting specialists, and mediators, he and co-founder Dr. Linda Smith believed that there needed to be a way to democratize access to expert child custody information and relevant psychological information without having to hire an expert. Child Custody Analytics walks attorneys through each step of a case: case planning, gathering information and evidence, court preparation, settlement, and, if need be, litigation.

Through all of this work, Dr. Frazer strives to help keep custody other issues child-centered and non-adversarial. He has observed how emotional family conflict is for everyone involved, and realizes how common it for divorcing parents to struggle with managing emotions. “By giving parents and attorneys research-informed information, it can make the process less emotional, better for the children, and help them preserve a sense of family, even as a divorced family.”

“I’m privileged to be a part of the CLC family,” he noted. “The organization has a tireless effort to focus on families within family law. You’re constantly coming up with innovative solutions, doing better work, and disseminating your success for the good of the greater family law community.” We are humbled by and grateful for Dr. Frazer’s kind words, and know that we would not be able to make the same advances without his continuous, vital support.

Laura A. Post is Vice President of Global Insights for The LEGO Group, the Danish toy company. Ms. Post leads the company’s research and insights function, which gathers intelligence from consumers around the world and helps bring the voice of kids and families into the business. Ms. Post has been at The LEGO Group for 29 years, and is based in the company’s Enfield, Connecticut offices. She is passionate about helping children learn and grow through creativity and play. Ms. Post is an appointee to the Connecticut Early Childhood Cabinet and has also served as a director of the LEGO Community Fund U.S., The LEGO Group’s U.S. corporate charity. Ms. Post has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Cornell University and has a Master’s of Business Administration from the University of Connecticut. She and her husband live in West Hartford, CT and have two daughters.

Dan A. Brody is a litigation attorney at the law firm Robinson & Cole LLP, where he focuses his practice on complex business litigation matters, government and internal investigations, corporate compliance, and criminal defense. In addition to his main areas of practice, Dan devotes significant time to pro bono cases. For example, Dan provides free representation to victims of domestic violence, and their children, who are seeking restraining orders. Dan’s commitment to using his legal education to assist children and families in need started while he attended law school. During law school, Dan volunteered at the Hartford Jobs Corps Academy where he taught legal principles, dispute resolution strategies and community-related law to high school and college-aged students. Also as a law student Dan taught a semester-long First Amendment law course to students at Portland High School. Dan, a resident of West Hartford, enjoys playing soccer and staying active.

Earlier this year, we said goodbye to Staff Attorney Kathryn Bissonnette and Professional Assistant Brooke Garcia. Both have taken on new roles at Brown, Paindiris, & Scott. We wish them all the best and know that they will do many amazing things at their new ventures!

As sad as goodbyes can be, we couldn’t be more excited to have two new staff members on the CLC team!

Attorney Jodie Comer Oshana is returning to CLC, having previously been both a CLC intern and a CLC Staff Attorney. She completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Maine, her Masters in Human Development and Family Studies from the University of Connecticut, and her Juris Doctorate from Quinnipiac University School of Law with an honors concentration in Family and Juvenile Law. Attorney Oshana is also a PhD candidate in Human Development and Family Studies at the University of Connecticut and will graduate in December 2017. She is an experienced family law attorney and has practiced previously at CLC and at a private law firm, with her practice focusing in family law. She also has an extensive background in child development and family studies, and has been teaching courses at the University of Connecticut since 2008.

Adelina Santiago, our new Professional Assistant, has 18 years of experience in the legal field. She worked as an Intake Specialist for Statewide Legal Services and as an Operations Assistant Screener for the Connecticut Legal Rights Project. She is pursuing her Paralegal Degree at Post University. Adelina loves working with clients and is excited to further develop her knowledge by building on her past professional experience.

Behind the scenes at The Children’s Law Center of Connecticut, we have a dedicated team of interns who help keep things running smoothly while gaining valuable professional experience in the legal and nonprofit fields. One of these interns is Elizabeth Panico, a second-year law student who is working with CLC through UConn School of Law’s Roisman Fellowship in Family Law. This fellowship provides a matriculated UConn School of Law student with an opportunity to work directly with CLC attorneys and staff in each of our service programs—Legal Representation, Families in Transition, and The Children’s Law Line.

The fellowship was created to benefit UConn Law students interested in working with CLC by Atty. Gerald Roisman, who has worked for decades in the field of family law. Through his experiences working within the Court system and the Institute of Living, as well as providing seminar sessions at the UConn School of Law and UConn School of Social Work, he recognizes that the most difficult family law cases deal with children’s issues arising when children are living in unstable situations. He views CLC as a positive resource to support and assist children who need help. Additionally, Atty. Roisman’s granddaughter is an attorney with The Children’s Law Center of New York, and he enjoys conversing with her about children’s issues in family court.

The fellowship has been a positive experience for Elizabeth, who would like to work with children and families in her future career as an attorney. “I have been relatively confident all along that I wanted to work in the Public Interest with children and families,” she states. “Being at CLC has really served to solidify that desire. I want to strive to make sure that children are always heard and that their needs and best interests are always put first.

In her fellowship at CLC, Elizabeth has had a great deal of hands-on legal experience, which has helped her learn about the work of guardians ad litem, representing clients and the legal profession as a whole. “Since starting my fellowship at CLC, I have also gained an immense amount of experience in court that remains unparalleled by experiences of most law students. I am now well-versed in being able to speak in court, and have participated in report back dates, status conferences, an uncontested custody hearing, and a final dissolution of marriage. I never would have imagined having these experiences as a second-year law student—these are skills and experiences that I will be able to utilize throughout my career.”

She adds, “I am so thankful that I have been able to work alongside many of the attorneys in the office and to be able to see a variety of different approaches in working with the cases they take on. I’ve seen first-hand that the work that is done at CLC really does help to make children’s lives better.”

When Miranda and Leon began participating in our Families in Transition (FIT) program, their co-parenting relationship had been filled with anger and resentment for quite some time. They had their son Eli after a whirlwind relationship, and managed to successfully co-parent for the first few years of his life. Leon would care for Eli during the day while Miranda worked full-time, and Miranda would take Eli during weekends and evenings when Leon worked. Things began to unravel when Leon began a new relationship and eventually got married. Miranda butted heads with Leon’s new wife, and began to withhold his visits with their son.

A few months later, Miranda was arrested for driving under the influence. The court granted Leon temporary sole custody, and Eli moved in full-time with him and his new wife. Eli was put into therapy and began asking to see his mom. Leon spoke to Miranda and suggested that they attend mediation together since they were having trouble communicating, and neither of them wanted to spend the money or time to continue battling in court.

Their first session at FIT was almost their last, as Miranda angrily stormed out before the end of the hour. Although the process wasn’t always easy, they both continued with mediation, stating that they were willing to do whatever it took to get along for Eli’s sake. Through listening, understanding and being educated about the harmful effects that their conflict had on Eli, Miranda and Leon began speaking to each other in a significantly more positive manner. Having mediators in each session to aid the flow of conversation helped them to communicate more effectively, and they both were able to fully hear each other for the first time.

With the help of their FIT mediators, Miranda and Leon were able to come to an agreement regarding visitation while Miranda sought help for her substance abuse issues. They learned to co-parent in a non-combative manner that showed Eli that his parents could put aside their issues for him to have healthy, happy relationships with both parents. Although Miranda and Leon’s new wife still have a rocky relationship, their conflict during transitions was eased with conflict reduction strategies and suggestions from the FIT mediators.

Although each day is not perfect, the mediators were able to teach these parents essential skills to help them co-parent their son. They both expressed gratitude knowing that FIT is there in the future in case they need to return to discuss any issues that come up in their co-parenting relationship, and are ready to continue working together to create the best co-parenting situation possible for Eli.

For more information on our Families in Transition program, go to: www.clcct.org/mediation