flafccflafccOn December 15, 2018 I began my term as President of the Florida Chapter of the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts. This was the official beginning of what I hope and expect to be a highly positive, eventful year. FLAFCC has always been a leader and an innovator in providing guidance, setting standards, and paving the way for growth, development, and change in all areas of Family Law.
Looking back over the past year, Debra Weaver, Ph.D., our immediate past President, led us on a fantastic journey that provided us with our highly successful conference (chaired by Sheba Katz), as well as progress on the Eldercaring Coordination project and other programs. I, and hopefully all of you, thank her for her hard work and dedication to FLAFCC and what it stands for. We also have a hard-working and innovative Board of Directors who volunteer their time to forward the FLAFCC mission. These Board members are very approachable, and I invite all of you to reach out to them and discuss how to get involved.
Over the next year, we have a lot of important work planned. Our 15th annual conference, whose theme and the title is Miles To Go: Moving Families Forward is currently in the planning stage with the call for presenters having just gone out. Last year's conference was a great success with the highest number of registrants of any of our conferences. We are going to continue to offer pre-conference tracks in Mental Health, Legal, and Financial areas. The conference will offer workshops provided by top-rated, cutting-edge professionals. Continuing education credits will be provided for all professions including Mediators.
In addition to our ongoing efforts related to Parenting Coordination and Social Investigation, FLAFCC will continue to concentrate on Eldercaring Coordination. In December we created an Eldercaring Coordination standing committee to further this national and international initiative. During 2019 we will also be looking at the Intake Review process for Florida Family Courts. This project aims to revise the family court intake process to better serve families who are just entering the family law arena and may not have professional help to rely on for guidance. We will be updating our website and media material and strengthening our social media presence. This will also make our organization more visible. Each one of these areas is being spearheaded by past and current Board members; please contact me or another board member if you have an interest in helping with these projects.
All of us at FLAFCC are looking forward to 2019 being a highly productive year as we facilitate, develop and enhance Family Law programs to benefit the people of Florida. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to serve this group. I look forward to working with this fantastic Board and you, all the members of FLAFCC.
Craig Fabrikant, PhD