ReFLEx Training was developed in England and Wales in 2022 to address the broader emotional and psychological issues at play in cooperative parenting, and the risks to children of prolonged parental conflict over arrangements for their care after divorce or separation.

The training aims to provide family law professionals with a range of essential skills in addition to their core legal knowledge and which will allow them to take a more holistic approach to acting for their clients and working with parents and children. The aims are to improve working relationships with clients and achieve better long-term outcomes for clients and their families.

Shared Parenting Scotland national manager, Ian Maxwell, said: “We know from our casework that many family lawyers intuitively understand that their clients are first and foremost parents who get drawn into conflict with each other and find it hard to turn back from the adversarial process even when it is hurting their children. We hear from many parents who wish they had done things differently.

“We want to encourage more family lawyers, child welfare reporters, and other professionals working with separated families to extend their knowledge beyond the legal and court processes.”