About Us
Practical Child Inclusion Insights from the ICCFL
Child-Centered Approach
The International Centre for Children and Family Law is a child focused research and training centre emphasising appropriate inclusion of children in matters that affect them.
The centre offers specialized training in the areas of child inclusion, children’s rights, child and adolescent development, high conflict separation and divorce, domestic violence and the impact on children and families, child protection and innovative alternative dispute resolution practices including children.
Based in Calgary, Canada, and Sydney, Australia, the Centre seeks opportunities to collaborate with other child focused colleagues.
In 2018, we formed collaborative partnerships with:
The Authentic Inclusion of Children
ICCFL is dedicated to increase the authentic inclusion of children and young people’s voices in matters that affect them.
The Centre was established by Lorri Yasenik PhD and Jon Graham LLB in 2018. ICCFL is a child focused training and research centre committed to identifying best practice frameworks that are inclusive of children. ICCFL research projects are evidenced-based, collaborative and inform day-to-day practice. ICCFL works with colleagues from around the world to continuously improve best practices in child inclusion. ICCFL seeks to be at the forefront of developmentally sensitive innovative thinking, creating interventions that are child friendly.
ICCFL is incorporated in Australia as The International Centre for Children and Family Law Pty Ltd (ABN 50 638 176 780)
Wheel of Intervention Selection – The WISE®
Empowering Family Law Professionals
What In the World of Children is ICCFL’s international board of advisors. The group brings cross disciplinary experience, meeting quarterly to discuss local, national and international innovations in child practice. Membership includes family lawyers, child and play therapists, mental health practitioners, judges, family mediators, parenting coordinators, child protection specialists, child educators and academics. All members bring an interest and expertise in child inclusion.
Lorri and Jon met in 2014 at an international family law symposium in Montreal. Lorri, from Calgary, Canada and Jon from Sydney, Australia, began investigating the use of new models to increase the opportunity for meaningful participation of children in Family Law Processes.
Our work together began with a collaboration on models of practice that work across whole family systems; treating families and especially children as participants in the renegotiation of families and family relationships rather than objects of the parent's relationship breakdown.
They captured their initial thoughts in an article titled The continuum of including children in ADR processes: A child-centred continuum model (2016) Family Court Review 54,(2). The Child Centred Continuum Model became the foundation for two training programs: Meeting with Children for Family Law Practitioners, and Meeting with Parents for family law practitioners. These programs are constructed from a multi-theoretical frame, creating a blend of strategies from family law, family systems, ADR, child rights, child development, and child and play therapy.
Leading the Way in Child-Inclusive Practice: Lorri and Jon's Contributions
Lorri and Jon bring diverse sets of academic, theoretical and practical experience that allow for a unique conceptualisation of the child voice. They wanted to safely and practically bring standardized processes and procedures to practitioners who wanted to be child inclusive but who had not previously worked with children. The manualised programs are designed to provide the practitioner with standard guidelines so that they are not leading children, rather children are in the lead.
The programs have been presented in Canada, USA and Australia.
In 2017 the Lorri and Jon were part of a working committee drafted proposed guidelines for the designation of Child Consultant/ Child Inclusive Mediator. These guidelines were adopted by the Alberta Family Mediation Society in 2018 and are the first of such guidelines in North America.
Listen, listen to what your child has to say … Be respectful, try and understand why they’re making this decision … And just be supportive. (Lucy, F, 12-14 years)
So like maybe, yeah, just take more account into what the kids want ’cause what you (the parents) want isn’t always the best, um, for the whole situation. (Oscar, M, 15+ years)
Yeah, look I’d say it’s just important to listen and just understand what the kid’s saying pretty well. (Michael, M, 15+ years)
Mmm, talk to them about it and don’t like, and then like, when you finally get to hear what they actually think, like, don’t get mad at them for it or go and sulk about it. (Hayley, F, 12-14 years)
From – Children and young people in separated families: Family law system experiences and needs. Final Report 2018 Australian Institute of Family Studies
Jon Graham
LLB BA(Psych)
Grad Dip FDR (Australia)
Jon Graham is a Sydney-based Registered Family Dispute Resolution Practitioner (Family Mediator) and Parenting Coordinator, with qualifications in law, psychology, commerce, and Family Mediation. He combines over 20 years of clinical experience with families affected by separation and divorce with extensive training across Australia. Jon is the Clinical Director of the Institute of Specialist Dispute Resolution, which provides tailored family dispute resolution and mediator training/supervision in Australia, Asia, and North America. Since 2010, his work in Australia has focused on support models for vulnerable families with histories of violence, abuse, and neglect, including leading training for the Coordinated Family Dispute Resolution model. Jon has also collaborated with Family Relationship Centres on practice models for families experiencing violence and has presented programs for legal and mediation professionals on safe family law practices.
Lorri Yasenik
PhD, RSW
RPT-S, CPT-S
Lorri Yasenik is specialized in working with children and families in the areas of treatment of trauma, high conflict separation and divorce and child development in Calgary, AB Canada. In addition to being a certified supervisor of child psychotherapy and play therapy, Lorri is a Registered Family Mediator and a Registered Parenting Coordinator-Arbitrator. Lorri has a keen interest in legal issues that affect children’s lives and has completed research in the area of “Including the Voices of Children in the Legal System”. Lorri is the co-founder and co-director of the International Centre for Children and Family Law (Sydney Australia /Calgary Canada) and the Co-director/owner of Rocky Mountain Play Therapy Institute in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Lorri provides training related to child inclusive practice in family law and child psychotherapy and play therapy nationally and internationally.