IN THE PROFESSION
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A Focus on Family Law
Child-Centered Issues We Never Imagined with COVID-19 : Turning the Parenting World Upside Down .
For this issue of The Atlanta Lawyer , we focus on children . This month we asked Atlanta Bar Family Law practitioners for their comments about how the pandemic impacts child rearing issues , custody , and parental decision making . The lawyers give insight into each family ’ s unique journey into litigation from their perspective as divorce lawyers , guardians ad litem ( GAL ), mediators , and arbitrators .
With the pandemic , so much has changed . COVID-19 has turned the parenting world upside down . Everything is changing every day , so , as frustrating as that is for us as individuals , it is exponentially so for families going through a divorce because they are already struggling to navigate new dynamics . The parties in these cases have their patience challenged incessantly with new information , changing guidelines , changing advice , etc . It is hard to be on the same page with someone you love , let alone with someone you are divorcing or from whom you are already divorced .
Parents who had to travel for work suddenly did not travel at all , then a lot of them realized they did not want to travel for work and now do not travel . They are now going through a divorce and the spouse wants to say that the person was “ never there ” and traveled all the time , while the spouse
18 January / February 2022