Oakland County Friend of the Court Information

SMILE (Start Making It Livable for Everyone) is a two-hour educational program for divorcing parents with children under the age of 18.

Parents who have a pending divorce in Oakland County are required to attend this program. They receive a letter, signed by their respective judge, notifying them of their scheduled meeting. The program is held at the Oakland County Commissioners Auditorium, Pontiac, Michigan.

Other parents interested in attending SMILE may register by writing the Friend of the Court or calling 248-858-0453.

The program assists parents to better understand the effects of divorce, the needs of their children, and how to promote their children’s healthy adjustment to divorce.

Save or print:

• The entire handbook in PDF format

*NEW* The 2006 updated SMILE video is now available for purchase on DVD. Mail or drop off the order form.

You will need to download and install Adobe Acrobat Reader if it is not already installed on your system.

ADEPT (After Divorce: Effective Parenting Techniques) Program:

ADEPT provides training for parents (building on the SMILE program).  Over a series of six weekly sessions, parents study how divorce affects children, while learning how to discipline as a single parent, avoid alliances, and spot developing problems.

ADEPT, which stands for After Divorce: Effective Parenting Together, is an eight-week program designed for parents who are in the process of a divorce or who have had a judgment of divorce and who continue to engage in active conflict. These will often be parents who have failed one or more mediations and exhibit moderate to high conflict, and that conflict interferes with their ability to effectively co-parent their children.

What to expect

During each two-month series, the ADEPT program accommodates nine co-parents. The programs are held in the Oakland County Courthouse.  Based on a communication model, the educational and communication skills training program serves the children of Oakland County by training parents to share co-parenting through appropriate communication rather than engaging in conflict and additional litigation.

Initially, the leaders of the program, who are psychologists in the Court’s Psychological Clinic, increase parent’s awareness of the impact of conflict on children. Subsequent sessions help parents to look at their anger, try to put their anger into perspective, and learn more effective communication techniques. Finally, by training co-parents to use elements of peaceful conflict resolution, parents are brought together to interact with each other to deal with their most important conflicts related to the raising of their children.