Vol. 7, No. 1, Pg. 14. Family Court PACT Program.

• Author: By the Hon. Amy C. Sutherland

South Carolina Lawyer

1995.

Vol. 7, No. 1, Pg. 14.

Family Court PACT Program

14Family Court PACT ProgramBy the Hon. Amy C. SutherlandThe program content is not therapy. Instead, it is a short series of educational, supportive classes that teach parents the divorce transition's effects on the entire family system.

It's Friday evening and you have come home a little early for a change. You and your spouse are going out for that long overdue date. Or you are finally going to your child's high school game, and for once, you will get there before halftime.

The phone rings at home. It is one of your recent clients. This one lost custody at the temporary hearing. She is calling to ask for your help. She wants you to call her husband's lawyer. Her husband has refused to give her the children this weekend even though it is "her weekend."

Does this sound familiar? No matter how a lawyer chooses to handle this client's crisis, he or she comes away from the encounter with his or her own set of frustrations. Why do people act like this? Why does a lawyer take these cases? How can a lawyer avoid this common interruption in his or her personal life? Will this client be able to pay the additional fee for the contempt action that must be filed? How can parents be so immature, selfish and so thoughtless? Don't they know the harm they are doing? The answer to the last question is a resounding "NO." Even educated parents let the emotional turmoil of divorce cloud their judgment.

The Parent and Child Transitions (PACT) Program is the result of one judge and one lawyer reacting to this problem. The Hon. Wiley Caldwell Jr. and a Florence lawyer approached Circle Park Associates, a center addressing alcohol and drug abuse problems in the Florence area.

As a result, Circle Park and Florence County developed an educational program to assist parents and children in adjusting to divorce.

The curriculum was developed by bringing in experts in the field of marital transitions from the Pittsburgh Center for Step Families. Additional curricula in the areas of early separation, the divorce process and specific parenting skills were added by a consulting psychologist at Circle Park.

The first PACT classes were conducted in January 1990. Florence and Horry counties implemented referrals to the program through their respective Family Courts. In 1994, Anderson, Greenville and Berkeley counties implemented PACT programs through their Family Courts.

The program content is not therapy. Instead, it is a short series of educational, supportive classes that teach parents the divorce transition's effects on the entire family system. It also teaches the special parenting skills needed by parents to help their children adjust to divorce.

Four weekly, two-hour classes cover the following lessons. * The Divorce Experience. The first session presents divorce and remarriage statistics. Participants discuss their feelings. Positive coping strategies are emphasized. The concept of rational thinking is explained. Guidelines for coping (dos and don'ts) are introduced. * Life Transitions and Divorce. This session frames divorce as a transitional, growth period, no matter how painful. It begins to raise child-centered concerns, showing parents how their feelings during the transition influence their parenting behaviors. Parents are shown how parenting by both parents continues after divorce. * How to Parent as a Single Parent. This session teaches parents the range of emotions children experience as a consequence of...