January 2023 – Monthly Member Meeting

Monthly Member Meeting

Wednesday, January 11, 2023
5:00 PM – 6:30 PM

Supporting Adults and Children When New Partners Enter the Picture After Separation/Divorce

Presented by Karen S. Bonnell

In many of the families we work with, a parent’s new romantic partner is part of the picture, or parents anticipate dating in the future as they move through the divorce process. Karen Bonnell, a mental health professional (retired) with over 40 years of experience working with families as a therapist, divorce/co-parent coach and mediator will join us to answer some of our most pressing questions.

Today, Karen helps parents Divorce Well – prepare their children for two-home family life, Co-Parent Strong – strengthen their co-parenting skills, and Step-Wise – assist with how to successfully introduce kiddos to a new romantic partner and integrate a new adult into two-home family life – best practices while moving toward stepfamily. Karen will speak to so many of the issues we have all wondered about:

• How does growth and development play into a child’s readiness to integrate a new adult into their sense of family?
• How do we help parents and the person their dating to understand the axiom that “the slower we go, the faster we’ll get there”?
• Help parents see, anticipate and manage the “five stepfamily challenges” that begin during the dating phase – for example, discipline.
• Help parents appreciate the impact of dating on their co-parenting relationship, how to discuss dating with a co-parent, and how to prevent the risk of children falling into painful loyalty binds; important considerations when developing a parenting plan that supports next-time family.
• Help parents begin to imagine the purpose of forming a constructive parenting coalition where all the adults communicate and work together on behalf of the kiddos… huge impact post-decree.

Please note: This meeting will be conducted by Zoom. Please contact the DCACP Adminstrator at DCACP.office@gmail.com for more meeting information. Kindly submit an RSVP below to record your attendance.