Parent Consulting

A Parenting Consultant (“PC”) is a neutral party that is made available to a family in conflict in order to help negotiate, coach and arbitrate them through ongoing parenting issues.

When appointed as a PC, we begin by meeting with both parties together. This meeting is administrative in nature and serves to explain the PC process, schedule appointments, familiarize the PC with background information, describe the children involved, and establish an agenda of items to be addressed. If either parent is uncomfortable with a joint meeting, he or she may discuss these concerns with us before the appointment.

Subsequent meetings may be conducted with both parents together; each parent alone; and may also include meetings with the children, new spouses or significant others. These meetings take place in the PC’s office. Sometimes it is possible to proceed by phone, e‐mail, or with written correspondence.

Parents will always have the opportunity to make agreements that settle their disputes. Parents are in the best position to make decisions about their children and will be assisted in doing so whenever possible. However, as PC’s, it is our responsibility to make recommendations or decisions when parents are unable to agree. Even though PC’s facilitate negotiations, there is no confidentiality of information such as that provided in mediation or psychotherapy.

Since a PC is a neutral party, we do not take cases in which we have any conflict of interest or bias toward either parent.

Parenting Time Expediting

A Parenting Time Expeditor (“PTE”) is a neutral person authorized to use a mediation-arbitration process to resolve parenting time disputes. According to Minnesota Statute, “The purpose of a parenting time expeditor is to resolve parenting time disputes by enforcing, interpreting, clarifying, and addressing circumstances not specifically addressed by an existing parenting time order and, if appropriate, to make a determination as to whether the existing parenting time order has been violated.”

When a PTE is appointed, the process begins by meeting with both parties together. This meeting is administrative in nature and serves to explain the PTE process, schedule appointments, identify possible collateral resources, familiarize the PTE with background information, describe the child(ren) involved, review agreements and court orders currently in place, and establish an agenda of items to be addressed.

Subsequent meetings may be conducted with both parents together; each parent alone; with the children (together or separately); with each parent and the children; with new spouses or significant others. These meetings take place in the PTE’s office. Sometimes it is possible to proceed by phone, e-mail, or written correspondence.

The PTE will always give parents the opportunity to settle their disputes. We believe that parents are in the best position to make decisions about their children and should be assisted in doing so whenever possible. However, it is the PTE’s responsibility to make recommendations or decisions when parents are unable to agree about parenting time.

Custody and Parenting Time Evaluation

If you and your co-parent are unable to reach an agreement about custody or parenting time, the court can order a Custody or Parenting Time Evaluation. These evaluations are designed to give the judges the information they need to make custody and parenting time decisions for your family. An evaluator’s task is to learn about your family in order to make recommendations in the best interest of your children. In order for the evaluator to make this assessment, a typical custody evaluation includes interviews with each parent and child as well as teachers, doctors, or daycare providers; observations of parents’ interactions with the children, either in the office or in their home; review of court documents; and psychological testing. At the end of the evaluation process, the evaluator provides feedback and a summary to the clients and/or attorneys, and writes a report that summarizes the recommendations.

MaryCathleen Fenske is available to conduct Custody or Parenting Time Evaluations. If you would like to appoint her in this capacity, please contact our office to inquire about her availability.