Lili Vasileff spoke at the 2015 Divorce Catalyst Conference, held October 1st through 4th in New York City. Sponsored by the Association of Divorce Financial Planners and Center for Mediation and Training, the conference was designed to be a network for new ideas, where committed divorce professionals will reach a new level of insight.
The topic of Lili’s presentation was ‘Embracing Diversity In Parenting Agreements’ and covered critical issues affecting educational, social, and medical concerns for families with special needs children. She highlighted extraordinary expenses and unique considerations as well as potential pitfalls that may put at risk eligibility for government agency benefits. Post-majority age children with disabilities present different challenges for families beyond the usual legal scope of divorce agreements. Conflicts between parents concerning treatment, costs and solutions was also examined with examples from actual cases.
In the format of an interdisciplinary panel, Lili also help divorce professionals gain a greater understanding from psychological, legal and financial viewpoints the unique circumstances of multicultural, LGBTQ and special needs children families. Her talk covered the practical provisions in drafting parenting agreements and engaging in mediation with these diverse families, who have been historically excluded from the mainstream.
Divorce professionals need to be aware of rapid changes in the law, psychological stigmas, cultural particularities, and unique practical needs and drafting parenting agreements of diverse families. Practical and analytical tips for working with diverse families as well as actual case examples were shared. Co-presenter Dr. Errol Rodriguez discussed multicultural families, and race and class issues in mediating and drafting parenting agreements.
