ARTICLE
29 July 2025

Parent Education 2025: A Fresh Look At PEACE After COVID-19

Meister Seelig & Fein

Contributor

Meister Seelig & Fein is a premier business law firm headquartered in New York City with additional offices in Connecticut, Los Angeles and New Jersey. Known for its entrepreneurial spirit and commitment to excellence, the firm offers a comprehensive range of legal services. Its team of accomplished attorneys, collaborative approach, and steadfast commitment to integrity are essential to ensuring that the firm’s clients achieve their objectives.
In 2018, we last provided an update on the PEACE program in Nassau County.
United States Family and Matrimonial

In 2018, we last provided an update on the PEACE program in Nassau County. After COVID-19 forever changed the way we live our lives, PEACE likewise required a refresh with revamping. Thanks to Dr. Paul Meller and his doctoral students at Hofstra's PsyD Program in School-Community Psychology, PEACE entered the 21st century and continues to be considered "the Gold Standard" for parent education programs in New York State.

By order of the Chief Administrative Judge of the Courts of New York dated August 9, 2018, the Honorable Lawrence K. Marks authorized the establishment of a pilot program for the mandatory referral of parents to attend a parent education and awareness program in all contested matrimonial matters involving custody of or visitation with children in seven different counties in New York State. The order, which took effect on October 1, 2018, directed certain counties to establish a parent education and awareness program. Those counties were Monroe, Nassau, New York, Ontario, Tompkins, Washington and Westchester.

Implementation of a parent education program in New York State, especially Nassau County, was not a new concept. An initiative that offered research-based information to parents engaged in custody litigation, and the realization that this intervention could produce better outcomes for the children of divorce, led to the first court-affiliated parent education program in 1978. By 2001, 35 states had established parent education programs by legislation or court rule, and by 2016, mandatory parent education programs existed in 46 states.

In 2001, New York created its own statewide parent education initiative under the direction of its then-Chief Judge, Judith S. Kaye. Judge Kaye announced the initiation of the New York State Parent Education and Awareness Program (PEAP) and the appointment of a 19-member, multi-disciplinary Advisory Board to recommend standards, guidelines and requirements for establishing and conducting parent education in the State of New York.

However, over 30 years ago, even before there was PEAP, an interdisciplinary group of lawyers, judges and mental health professionals in Nassau County created PEACE. PEACE stands for "Parent Education and Custody Effectiveness." Credited as a catalyst for the expansion of parent education programs in the state, PEACE was a joint project of Hofstra University's School of Law and the School of Education's Graduate Program in Marriage and Family Counseling created by Hofstra Law's Professor Andrew Schepard and now retired matrimonial attorney Stephen W. Schlissel, Esq.

Private donations, federal grants, donations from the Interdisciplinary Forum of New York City, the New York Chapter of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, and the Nassau County Bar Association's We Care Fund, as well both financial and time contributions from the law firms Schlissel Ostrow Karabatos, PLLC, Abrams Fensterman, LLP, and now Meister Seelig & Fein, PLLC, enabled PEACE to survive and ultimately increase in both size and scope since its inception. Because of the generosity of those mentioned above, as well as the Office of Court Administration, the program has always been offered free of charge and is presented and administered only by volunteers.

PEACE always had a singular goal: education. With education comes understanding and a better ability to deal with the process. Such increased understanding brings with it sharper awareness of the potential harm to children during divorce. PEACE, and other similar parent education programs, seek a concomitant reduction in such harm through education.

For over 30 years, the PEACE program continues to serve the parents of Nassau County. PEACE's curriculum consists of three topics: (1) how the legal process resolves disputes parents do not resolve themselves, such as custody and parenting time issues; (2) the adult experience of divorce and separation from a mental health perspective; and (3) the child's experience of divorce and separation and how parents can help their children cope with this transition.

Since COVID, PEACE programs in Nassau County are generally held six to seven times a year. Prior to COVID, PEACE was always presented in person at the Nassau County Supreme Court building. While there is little doubt that in person programs provide a more productive experience, the realities of working parents, childcare issues and better technology changed the way families operate, and in turn forced parent education programs to adapt to the changing landscape. As such, the program is now offered exclusively by video/virtual platform.

The participants are generally referred to PEACE by order of the Supreme Court or the Family Court, a process that continues in Nassau County (although we do receive orders from neighboring counties). In addition, Judge Marks' administrative order follows PEACE's initial determination that participants shall not be mandated to attend the program in cases where there is any history or specific allegations or pleadings of domestic violence or other abuse involving the parents or their children.

The program continues over two nights for approximately two and a half hours per evening. Limited to less than 65 participants for any given session (both spouses in a divorcing or separating couple cannot attend the same sessions), the program is designed to allow for question-and-answer supervised by a trained matrimonial practitioner and trained mental health providers. The first half of the first night is about the legal process. There is a lecture by a sitting matrimonial judge (for the last several years, Justices Stacy D. Bennett and Joseph H. Lorintz volunteered their time) about the legal system and a lecture/question-and-answer session by the authors. The second half of the first session is facilitated by mental health professionals, under the instruction of Dr. Paul Meller, and focuses on the adult experience in separation and divorce, the kinds of emotions and changes a parent may undergo and tools to deal with them, as well as resource information for help, if needed. The second session is entirely focused on the child. Through the use of technology, the program also offers the opportunity for "virtual breakout rooms", to create even smaller group interaction. This allows the participants to feel more engaged and ensures a more focused audience. The primary goal is to teach parents methods that they can employ to reduce the stress of changes in the family dynamic, how to protect their children from the negative effects of high-conflict custody litigations, and how to promote and foster their children's healthy adjustment and development.

For over three decades, and over 9,000 participants later, PEACE has been lauded by judges, participants and others. In fact, PEACE, in the form presented in Nassau County, won an award from the American Bar Association's Family Law Section and a Telly Award (honoring excellence in video and television across all screens) for its video about the children of divorce.

We would also like to take a moment to honor and remember the late Justice Sondra M. Miller, one of the architects of parent education programs in New York State in their infancy, who passed away on August 7, 2024, at the age of 95.

As two of the continuous providers/administrators of PEACE for over 25 years, we can say without equivocation that this initiative, now a stalwart service to parents going through a divorce and/or separation, whether in person or virtual, is a necessary and successful educational component to the divorce and separation processes.

Originally published by “Parent Education 2025: An Update on PEACE After COVID-19,” in Hofstra Law School’s Spring 2025 Family Law blog.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.

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