Joint public event organised by Drew & Napier LLC and SPS

Topic: Co-parenting after a split: Myth or Reality?

Date: 31 March 2023
Time: 6 – 7.30 pm
Cost: FREE

Venue:
Drew & Napier LLC,
10 Collyer Quay, #10th Floor Ocean Financial Centre,
Singapore 049315

Synopsis:
The breakdown of a marriage or relationship can be detrimental to the wellbeing of a child. Custody conflicts can lead to children being used as pawns in court proceedings, and damage any possibility of a co-parenting relationship which is harmonious. Therapeutic justice seeks to ensure that parents undergoing “divorce should be no worse than a re-organisation of family members’ living arrangements and the divorced spouses should still be able to continue to discharge their parental responsibilities with some degree of co-operation”. (Justice Debbie Ong, Family Justice Courts Workplan Speech 2020)

In this open roundtable discussion, we will join clinical psychologist Stephanie Tan and family law expert Hoon Shu Mei as they explore the following issues:

(1) The Singapore legal framework behind custody, care and control and access;
(2) The impact of divorce on children, bearing in mind the different stages of development;
(3) How separating & divorcing couples can best move from one household to two households,
including psychological best practices as regards breaking the news to the children, and how parents
navigate a new co-parenting relationship; and
(4) How parents are impacted and can be supported with practical, psychological and legal tools

Speaker 1: Ms Hoon Shu Mei

Shu Mei is a Director of Drew & Napier LLC. With a niche practice in private client and matrimonial disputes, she appears regularly at all levels of the Singapore Courts on all matters affecting the family including division of matrimonial assets, maintenance, custody and international relocation, and trusts and property disputes. She is an accredited mediator and collaborative lawyer. She is a Fellow of the International Academy of Family Lawyers (IAFL) in 2021. Her interest in child development and parenting has also led me to become a certified parenting coach (Parent Effectiveness Training, Dr Thomas Gordon). Shu Mei is recognised by leading publications such as Legal 500 (2023), Chambers High Net Worth guide (2022), Benchmark Litigation (2022), Doyle’s Guide (2022), Citywealth UK Leaders List, and in Singapore Business Review’s list of Singapore’s 30 most influential lawyers under 40 (2023).

Speaker 2: Ms Stephanie Tan Wei Wei

With two decades in the mental health and social service sectors, in both the private and public sectors. Stephanie mostly conducts therapy for parents and children of divorce. Specialized in mental health issues using CBT, Narrative Therapy, Schema Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, mindfulness and positive psychology therapy. Stephanie had also conducted two cross-cultural studies in the areas of burnout among helping professionals, as well as resilience among Singaporean Adult Clients living in low-income families. She is currently involved in a preliminary study on co-parenting using the Feinberg co-parenting relationship scale.

Regards,
SIG