The Splits

We've added a new book to the Always Child Focused Library this week: The Splits by Bron O'Loan.

Bron O'Loan is a family lawyer, and this book grew out of the conversations she has been having with clients for years. The writing is warm, light, and deliberately accessible. No legal jargon. No overwhelm. Just plain language from someone who understands what it feels like to be handed a process you didn't choose and asked to navigate it anyway.

For most parents, the family law system is unfamiliar territory. The terminology is opaque, the professionals are many, and the stakes are as high as they get. Children are watching all of it, even when adults assume they aren't, and the anxiety that parents carry through this process has a way of finding its way into the room.

The Splits addresses that directly. It walks readers through the family law process in plain language, explaining who the different professionals are, what they are there to do, and how the system is designed to work.

A section of the book titled A Conversation About the Legal System takes readers through the full cast of people they might encounter in a family court matter. For parents who have never been anywhere near a courtroom, this kind of orientation is genuinely useful.

Understanding who is in the room, and why, gives parents a better chance of staying focused on what matters most throughout the process. And what matters most is always the children at the centre of it.

"Coaching your kids for family report interviews is not okay." The book notes, quite rightly, that family report writers are experienced professionals who can tell when a child has been coached. It is a good reminder that the best thing a parent can do is step back, trust the process, and let their child simply be themselves.

"I really hope that you never have to meet a judge." It is a line that carries everything a family lawyer knows about what that moment costs a family, and everything they wish they could spare their clients from.

We hope that too.

The Splits has now been added to the #alwayschildfocused Library and is available for parents to borrow.