ADEPT, which stands for After Divorce: Effective Parenting Together, is an eight-week program designed for parents who are in the process of a divorce or who have had a judgment of divorce and who continue to engage in active conflict. These will often be parents who have failed one or more mediations and exhibit moderate to high conflict, and that conflict interferes with their ability to effectively co-parent their children.
What to expect
During each two-month series, the ADEPT program accommodates nine co-parents. The programs are held in the Oakland County Courthouse. Based on a communication model, the educational and communication skills training program serves the children of Oakland County by training parents to share co-parenting through appropriate communication rather than engaging in conflict and additional litigation.
Initially, the leaders of the program, who are psychologists in the Court's Psychological Clinic, increase parent's awareness of the impact of conflict on children. Subsequent sessions help parents to look at their anger, try to put their anger into perspective, and learn more effective communication techniques. Finally, by training co-parents to use elements of peaceful conflict resolution, parents are brought together to interact with each other to deal with their most important conflicts related to the raising of their children.
