It is no secret to New York’s family law bar that divorce and separation stress can trigger lasting trauma in young children, teens, adult children, and their parents, and can reshape young and adult brains and emotional health.

If you were to poll the matrimonial bar and take their temperature on questions such as: Is the AFC (attorneys for children) structure working for families in contested custody cases (why or why not)?; Is the parent coordinator dynamic working for families in contested custody cases (why or why not)?; and/or is the appointment of forensic psychologists or related mental health professionals in contested custody cases bringing families closer to resolution or farther from resolution?; we suspect the answers would run the gamut.

To be sure, there are AFCs, parent coordinators, family therapists, and forensic psychiatrists that have done and are doing upstanding work for New York’s families in distress. But we cannot ignore that, as with almost anything in the legal profession, there is always room for improvement.

With that in mind, the State legislature has a chance to ameliorate the negative impacts of parental breakup with a remedy justified by science and decades of research and experience: mandatory parent education in disputed custody cases.

A new bill, filed this year in the State Assembly, would mandate that parents involved in contested custody matters be required to attend a state-approved parent education program as part of the processing of their matter through the Supreme and Family courts.

The bill is supported by decades of data confirming that parent education improves family transitions, shields children from conflict, and facilitates settlements, while also lessening a family’s return to court and reducing the time and expense to both parents and courts.

If this bill becomes law – as it should – New York would join 47 other states requiring some form of parent education for parents involved in disputed custody or divorce proceedings with children under age 18.

This bill arrives for public debate just as the Office of Court Administration (OCA) has announced the revival of a parent education pilot program in select counties. Nassau County has its own “Parent Education and Custody Effectiveness” (PEACE) program. Attention should also be paid to the lessons and information learned from New York’s own discretionary Parent Education and Awareness Program that operated throughout the State from 2005-2011.

In 2003, a commission appointed by then Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye issued a report focused on skills and strategies that research indicated predicted healthier outcomes for children and parents facing divorce and separation. The outgrowth was the New York State Parent Education and Awareness Program, which gained adherents and community and judicial support until budget cuts in 2011 left parents in many communities without access to this vital resource.

Under the proposed bill, parent education classes are presented live or through video or online by mental health professionals and attorneys, including attorneys for children, and judges. The sessions review family dynamics during divorce, communication skills training to reduce confrontation or encourage disengagement, as appropriate, and ways to support children through this difficult time.

Legal advice is not given, but legal topics are covered including the definition of legal terms encountered in custody proceedings, methods to resolve disagreements, factors considered in a custody decision, parenting plans, and the roles of the forensic/psychological evaluator and the attorney for the child (AFC).

Under the bill’s provisions, programs would be administered by independent providers, who retain the experts, provide a secure class environment, and register participants. To cover costs, parents pay a nominal fee—usually less than $100 per session—with fee waiver or adjustment based on ability to pay available. The providers would continue to be charged with following the robust guidelines set out by OCA to assure quality and consistency of programming throughout the State.

Parent education has a record of success throughout the nation and in New York.  Surveys in an upstate program reflect positive feedback from participants. Participation by parents holds the promise of reducing legal and expert fees, costs for attorneys for children, and court expenditures. Research by one nationally recognized institution, Center for Divorce Education, shows a 57 percent reduction in re-litigation after parents attend parent education. This demonstrates that parent education has the ancillary benefit of being an effective case management tool.

Under mandatory parent education, parents involved in family disputes would be required to attend these classes at the earliest possible time in the court proceedings because, as attorneys know, the family disputes that come to our courts have been simmering often for months, if not years. During these tense times, children can be exposed to the worst of interpersonal behaviors by one parent to another, a conflict that can persist through a years-long proceeding in the courts.

Nationwide, studies, children and family advocates and judges confirm the efficacy of parent education.  One study said these programs “make social and fiscal sense” and “mandatory PE programs are more successful than voluntary programs” and parents who attended were “about 70% better off in terms of child well-being outcomes compared to those who did not participate.”

Assembly bill A-6570 could be a lifeline for these families and their children.

We do not mean to suggest that mandatory parent education will be a panacea. And it is expected that one or perhaps both parents in disputed custody cases might feel that he, she, or they do not need parent education. The fact is that if there is even the chance to improve matters for children of divorce whose parents are involved in contentious custody proceedings, that ought to be pursued for the sake of those very children. Further, if litigants ask the courts to help their families resolve custody disputes, part of that process entails being receptive to the courts’ efforts to provide that help.

A year from now, after the next legislative session, mandatory parent education should be the law.

Assembly Bill A-6570 is sponsored by Assembly woman Linda Rosenthal and is currently before the State Assembly.

"Mandatory Parent Education: Hope for New York Families," by Alan Feigenbaum and Judge Richard A. Dollinger was published in the New York Law Journal on September 4, 2025.

Reprinted with permission from the September 4, 2025, edition of the New York Law Journal © 2025 ALM Media Properties, LLC. All rights reserved. Further duplication without permission is prohibited.