Most Michigan family lawyers are familiar with the S.M.I.L.E. program [Start Making It Liveable for Everyone]. Most, if not all Michigan counties run S.M.I.L.E. and attendance is often mandatory.
I do a fair number of military divorces and my client is not always available to participate in Michigan in these valuable co-parenting classes. In Grand Traverse, the Friend of the Court has been willing to approve 2 hours of counseling that is focused on co-parenting and issues that arise with children and divorce as a substitute. My clients then send a letter from the counselor describing the content of the counseling sessions to the FOC to get credit. Today I found another option.
Childsharing.com is an online co-parenting class. It takes four hours to complete the class and a certificate of completion is given. You can read more about the online classes here and also see the affiliations and memberships of the founders. [I noted association with the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts.] The price is certainly reasonable - only $39.95.
You can check to see if the classes are approved in your county. In Michigan, only Van Buren County is noted to have approved this alternative to the S.M.I.L.E. program. I'll be interested to hear from other Michigan family lawyers and from Friends of the Court about whether they would approve this alternative. For the military family, it seems like a perfect solution.
As usual, very informative post. Co-parenting classes is a great idea; more proactive than the "lecture" style of SMILE. Great job Jeanne.
Posted by: twitter.com/clarkstonlegal | September 10, 2009 at 11:20 PM