Kiwanis of Lafayette thanks Dr. Luke Elliot, Executive Director of the Better Options Initiative, for speaking to us today.
Dr. Luke, a former member of Lafayette Kiwanis, has dedicated his career to the needs of children and their families. He started his career as Staff Psychologist at the then University of Southwestern Louisiana's Parent-Child Center. He later transitioned to full time private clinical practice evaluating children and adults with developmental issues and serving as a Court-Appointed Psychologist.
After retiring from clinical practice, he was moved to form the Better Options Initiative which provides resources for children who are impacted by parental conflict in custody and divorce cases.
He spoke of the work of the Initiative to provide outreach to churches, courts and lawyers to remind these very important players of that the welfare of the minor children involved is paramount and to research the impact of parental conflict in our Acadiana region.
Dr. Luke provided us with many sobering statistics concerning the effect of divorce, separation, and custody battles. For example only about 22% of children live in a traditional home with both biological parents.
Thanks to Dr. Luke Elliot for informing us of the important work of the New Directions Initiative.
