By: Susan Hansen, Co-founder of Family Mediation Center
If you are considering divorce, you are understandably concerned about your children. As you consider options, remember that you and your spouse will co-create a divorce legacy for your family. Every decision you make and every action you take will impact your children.
Will your divorce be high-conflict and destructive to your family, or will the two of you focus on restructuring your family with integrity and shared love for your children?
Imagine your now-grown child and a college roommate are talking about families, and your child says, “my parents are divorced”. The roommate asks, “what was that like for you?” What will your child say?
One way to create a positive divorce story is to work with a child specialist who can help both parents stay child-centered, provide insight about what will help or hurt children, and give input about how to have a good co-parenting relationship post-divorce. You can find a list of experienced child and family specialists who serve the Greater Milwaukee area on our Professional Resources page.
Your choice of lawyer and divorce process—do-it-yourself, mediation a joint process with one neutral lawyer, collaborative where you each have a lawyer solely focused on an out-of-court agreement, or traditional court-based representation—will profoundly affect your children. It is important to get education to make the best choice possible for you and your family.