Sherita Lynch

My journey in child advocacy began with supporting military families through deployments and life transitions, where I learned invaluable lessons about resilience, community building, and crisis intervention. Those early experiences taught me how much impact one person can have when they're truly committed to lifting others up during their most difficult times.

This foundation led me to become a Court Appointed Special Advocate, where I discovered my true calling. Working as both a volunteer advocate and supervisor, I learned to look beyond paperwork and see each child as an individual with their own unique story, dreams, and fears. These formative years shaped my approach to child advocacy and showed me the power of coordinated care when everyone puts the child's welfare at the center.

Building on this experience, I transitioned into Guardian ad Litem work, where I found myself at the center of some of the most challenging family situations imaginable. High-conflict cases became my specialty—those heartbreaking situations where parents are so consumed by their own pain and anger that they lose sight of their children's needs. I learned to navigate courtrooms filled with tension, to conduct forensic interviews with children caught in the crossfire, and to provide expert testimony that could change the trajectory of a family's future. Every case taught me something new about resilience, both in the children I advocated for and in myself.

What struck me most in these high-conflict situations was how often good people found themselves trapped in destructive patterns. Parents who deeply loved their children would become so focused on "winning" against their ex-partner that they couldn't see how their battle was wounding the very children they were fighting for. I spent countless hours helping families understand that their child's wellbeing had to come before their desire to be "right." Being recognized as Legislative Advocate of the Year was meaningful, but nothing compares to the moment when a parent finally understands that healing their family requires letting go of the fight.

My latest venture represents everything I've learned about helping families heal. After witnessing countless families struggle to transition from court battles to cooperative parenting, I founded After The Final Order with a clear mission: to guide parents from high-conflict parallel parenting to collaborative co-parenting. It's incredibly rewarding to see families discover they can disagree about decisions while still putting their children's wellbeing first. This work combines all my experience in child advocacy, crisis intervention, and family dynamics to create lasting positive change.