Source: Image of Senior, Public Domain, http://mrg.bz/HNWS9c; Image of Children, Public Domain, http://mrg.bz/1XJ8Pl
Hi, I'm Julie Tietz, and welcome to Conflict Resolution-- Putting the Pieces Together. Today, we're going to talk about how it can be a challenge to involve individuals in conflict resolution processes who don't have equal power in the process. So we're going to look specifically at elder care and child care when we are talking about these situations.
In conflict resolution, we usually go about it in a way in which parties have the ability to represent their own interests, and they are in an equal power and position. But in some situations, parties can't represent themselves and their interests on an equal footing.
And usually we see this with minors and incapacitated senior citizens. And so what do we do when we have these situations where parties are in a process but they don't have that equal power or can't represent their own interests?
In these situations, we have what they call elder care conflict resolution and child care conflict resolution. And so on elder care, we are going about issues of care for older people who don't have the capacity to represent themselves or their interests effectively.
And similar is with the child care where we have minor children. And they don't have the capacity or legal standing to represent themselves in a conflict resolution process.
In elder care conflict resolution, again, we are discussing care decisions of the older individual. And the senior's participation in this process really depends upon their mental capacity. So they may not have the mental capacity to participate fully.
But we want to, whenever possible, consider their input and consult with them in ways that we can communicate their interests in the process. So we may not be able to have them fully participate. But we're going to have them participate in as many ways as they possibly can.
So let's look at an example. Let's say we're going to go through a process for our mom and we need to have a care plan for her. And so she has early onset dementia. So her mental capacity is not fully there. She doesn't have a good memory. And she also uses a wheelchair. And so these are factors in which we have to look at in considering her care.
And we can't agree on how we're going to go about to help out mom. And so some of us want to put her in the nursing home, while other of us really want her to have some home health care.
And so when can we consider mom's input, maybe she discussed with us earlier some of her wishes for her care later on in the line what is her comfort level, and so on. So we want to consider these as much as possible in this process.
Going on to child care conflict resolution, here we see this lot in divorce and custody disputes. And it deals a lot with figuring out parenting plans-- so how the parents are going to split the time with each other and parent the child together.
And the child's participation in this process can be very minimal. So for example, if the child can't speak. Maybe they're only a toddler. So we really wouldn't have them participate in the process.
But they could also have higher participation if they're older. So maybe they're a teen, maybe then we would invite them in and have a lot more participation in this process.
And we also, again, are going to consider the mental capacity. Maybe our child that we are having a dispute about or over is again very young and can't speak for themselves. Or maybe they're older and they have some mental disabilities and can't speak for themselves either. So these are all considerations that we want to look into.
But as and with the elder care conflict resolution, we want to get the children's input as much as we can. But we also want to make sure it's appropriate.
So let's say we're going to come up with a parenting plan for Grace. And we need to consider if she's going to spend the most of her time with mom or dad.
And we want to also consider the stability. Who has more stability? Maybe dad works nights and mom works days. Or maybe dad works far away or mom works far away. So we've got to figure out, which is going to be the best place for Grace.
And who's to be able to provide for her needs the most. Maybe one person is more financially capable to provide for clothing and shelter and food. And we also want to have Grace's input as well.
How does Grace feel? Maybe she hasn't spent a whole lot of time with her mom in the past and is more close to her dad. Maybe her dad lives in her school district.
So there's a whole bunch of different factors. So we really want to ask Grace what her input is, what she feels most comfortable with, because she is an older child, let's say, in this example.
So now let's go over our key points in elder care and child care conflict resolution. So sometimes individuals have no capacity to represent their interests in a conflict resolution process. And when we're dealing with this, we are usually talking about elder mediation where we're talking about care plans for our older adult, so how we're going to make sure they're cared for.
And in child care mediation, we're talking more about parenting time plans and how we're going to split the time with the child and how we're going to go about parenting together.
And when we are in these situations, even though the capacity may be limited for the individuals, we want to consult them whenever possible and as much as possible. So we can get their input and really tailor the outcome to their wishes and interests.
So here's your key terms before we go. Feel free to pause and look them over a little closer.
Thank you so much for taking the time out to view this tutorial. I really hope you learned something. And I can't wait to catch you again next time.