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Legal guardians agree to provide a copy of the divorce decree and/or custodial arrangement documents prior to the first appointment/start of treatment, if asked.
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Legal guardians must provide written consent via the Shared Custody Consent Form as well as SLC’s Client Contract and Consent to Treatment in order for the minor client to receive treatment, unless the divorce decree/custody agreement states otherwise.
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Legal guardians understand that the focus of therapy is to improve the welfare of the child and support healthy family functioning.
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Legal guardians understand that therapy is not to be used as a punishment for the child or family members.
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Legal guardians understand that therapy is not to be used as leverage in the court system.
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Legal guardians understand that the therapist’s role is to support the child and the family through the changes in family dynamics, through the challenges posed by the child living in multiple households, as well as to support the child with any issues he/she faces individually and personally.
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Legal guardians are expected to behave respectfully in the presence of their children in the therapy setting and understand therapy is not for attacking, undermining or disparaging other parents or guardians.
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Legal guardians agree to be responsible for communicating about and coordinating appointments. The therapist is not responsible for informing legal guardians who are not present at counseling appointments about future appointments.
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Legal guardians agree to participate in group contact with therapist so that legal guardians are equally informed of treatment progress, goals and concerns. Therapist does not agree to withhold information from legal guardians or to collude with one or another parent. Rule of thumb: If you cannot say it to the other parent, do not say it to the therapist.
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Legal guardians agree that communication with therapist be informative and insightful into what is occurring with the child and legal guardians should avoid discussion of other guardians.
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Legal guardians agree to be responsible for the costs of counseling as dictated by the divorce decree and/or custodial documents and/or subscriber’s insurance. Should there be a dispute about payments and payments are not made, the client’s and family’s treatment will be suspended until payment arrangements are resolved.
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Any therapy services provided to legal guardians will be billed to the same payer as the client.
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Legal guardians understand and agree that should they need to communicate with therapist outside of the client's scheduled appointment time, there may be charges equal to $1/minute for time spent by phone or by e-mail beyond 10 minutes.
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Legal guardians agree to pay no show or late cancellation fees up to $120 should an appointment be missed without at least 24 hours notice
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Legal guardians understand that therapists are not investigators. Should you believe your child is being abused or neglected, even if by another legal guardian, it is the responsibility of said parent/guardian to contact Children’s Protective Services or the police.
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Legal guardians understand that therapists are mandated reporters of child abuse and required by law to report any “suspected child abuse”. Therapists have the right to report this information anonymously.
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Legal guardians understand that therapists are not custody evaluators and therefore do not provide opinions, insight, or recommendations regarding custody or parental visitation or rights. Should a legal guardian wish to change the custody arrangement, this is to be handled through the courts. Therapists at SLC are not custody evaluators and will not participate in custody evaluation. Guardians may contact the Friend of the Court for a court-appointed custody evaluator.
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Should the client’s SLC therapist be subpoenaed to testify in family court, legal guardians acknowledge and agree to the fee schedule of $200 per hour of any court-related services provided by the therapist. These services include, but are not limited to, time spent in preparation of court attendance and documentation, time travelling to and fromcourt proceedings, time spent in court proceedings of any kind, time spent consulting with lawyers and/or experts, etc.
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Should a legal guardian request their child client's (SLC’s client) health record to be released, the therapist will adhere to the laws of HIPAA and the directions of the divorce decree/custody agreement before appropriately responding to this request. This may require consent by all guardians for the release. Should a therapist believe releasing such records would be harmful to the child client, guardians should be aware that the therapist reserves the right to deny release of the records.
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Legal guardians understand that at any time these agreements are violated, services may be suspended or terminated.