Separated Parents and Service Provisions to a Child
Mullumbimby Psychology is a psychological service provider for children through to adults. We are committed to providing safe, supportive services to our clients and understand that the children we provide services to will sometimes come from separated families. We have created this document to assist separated parents to understand their rights and limitations when participating in therapy for their child.
When providing services to a child client, the child is considered to be the primary client. Participating parents are deemed client-parents, who may collaborate with the psychologist in order to support the child’s therapy.
Mullumbimby Psychology requires consent of both parents to provide services to a child under the age of 18 in most circumstances. Exceptions are made case-by-case and assessed in both a legal and ethical framework. Examples of circumstances where services may proceed without consent of both parents are if there is a DVO in place or a Court Order states that one parent is not to be involved in the care of the child. As per Australian Psychological Society Ethical Guidelines, the child’s best interests are paramount, and the treating psychologist must ensure that services are provided in a way which best supports treatment outcomes for the child.
We may request a copy of the Court Order prior to providing services, and we reserve the right to request this in the event there is significant conflict between parents which we reasonably believe may affect the provision of services to the child. Please note that we do not provide reports or letters for custody matters in court.
It is the expectation of Mullumbimby Psychology that parents of the child will respectfully and cooperatively collaborate to support their child’s engagement in therapy, in interest of supporting the best possible treatment outcome. We encourage decisions relating to the child’s psychological treatment to be made jointly.
Mullumbimby Psychology does not accept responsibility for keeping each parent availed of information relating to appointments, payment, or treatment for their child. We encourage active communication between parents to ensure agreement relating to administrative matters, such as appointment bookings or payment. In addition to attending their child’s appointments, each parent may book parent-only appointments to provide information regarding their child’s needs, to seek advice for how to support their child, or to request feedback on their child’s treatment progress; please note any information discussed during parent-only sessions are bound by confidentiality (i.e. if one parent attends a parent-only appointment, this information cannot be divulged to the other parent).