Child Advocate, Mediator & Family Services Professional

Kimberly Martin is a child advocate, mediator, and family services professional dedicated to helping children and families navigate complex transitions, parenting challenges, and family law matters with clarity, compassion, and professionalism.

Her work is rooted in a child-centered approach that recognizes the unique needs of every family. Kimberly has particular expertise serving medically intensive, neurodivergent, and special-needs children and their families, including matters involving developmental disabilities, complex medical conditions, behavioral health concerns, educational accommodations, and high-conflict parenting dynamics.

Kimberly currently serves as a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) in both King and Snohomish Counties, including Family Law CASA appointments. Her experience includes conducting investigations, interviewing children and collateral sources, reviewing medical, educational, and court records, preparing reports and declarations, and providing testimony and recommendations in matters involving the best interests of children.

In addition to her advocacy work, Kimberly serves as a leader and facilitator for Seattle Children’s Hospital affiliated parent support groups serving families of medically intensive children. Through this work, she has supported families navigating cerebral palsy, traumatic brain injury, developmental disabilities, feeding disorders, autism, ADHD, and other complex medical and developmental challenges.

Mediation, Negotiation & Conflict Resolution

Kimberly is a Harvard University-trained advanced negotiator and mediator, having completed both the Harvard Law School Intensive Mediation Program and the Harvard Law School Advanced Negotiation Program. She has also completed Washington State Mediation Training, Washington Family Mediation Training, and Stanford University Health coursework in Child Development, Behavior, and Mental Health.

Her training and experience provide a strong foundation for helping families navigate conflict, improve communication, and develop practical, child-centered solutions.

Before transitioning into child advocacy, mediation, and family services, Kimberly spent more than twenty-five years in executive leadership roles focused on business development, strategic partnerships, and alliance management with organizations including Microsoft, Oracle, Citrix, Intuit, Chef Software, and Accenture.

Throughout her career, she led complex, high-stakes negotiations involving competing interests, facilitated strategic partnerships among diverse stakeholders, and helped organizations find common ground to achieve mutually beneficial outcomes. She developed extensive expertise in conflict resolution, relationship building, stakeholder management, investigation, and navigating challenging decisions where the stakes were high and perspectives often differed.

Today, Kimberly views child advocacy, parenting coordination, and mediation as her second career chapter and an opportunity to give back through meaningful service to children and families. She brings the same skills that made her successful as a negotiator, collaborator, and executive leader to helping families navigate some of life’s most difficult transitions.

Professional Network & Resources

Kimberly brings not only her own experience and training, but also a deep network of relationships within child healthcare, mediation, education, and family law communities. Through her work with Seattle Children’s Hospital, Dispute Resolution Centers, CASA programs, and family law professionals, she understands how to connect families with the appropriate resources and expertise when complex issues arise.

Her philosophy is that most families benefit when they are empowered to make informed decisions for their children rather than relying solely on court intervention. By helping parents access information, improve communication, and understand available options, Kimberly works to create pathways for thoughtful, child-centered decision-making that promotes long-term stability and reduces unnecessary conflict.

Style & Approach

Having worked alongside many Guardians ad Litem, CASAs, Mediators, and Parenting Coordinators, Kimberly recognizes that every professional brings a unique style and approach to their work. Finding the right fit is particularly important in mediation and parenting coordination, where communication and working relationships often play a significant role in successful outcomes.

Kimberly’s approach is structured, practical, and solution-focused. She is known for being direct, thoughtful, and efficient, helping families break down complex issues, identify underlying interests and concerns, and focus on decisions that support the best interests of their children.

While conflict and emotions are often part of family transitions, Kimberly’s goal is not to provide therapy or ongoing counseling, nor to become entangled in unnecessary legal disputes. Instead, she helps parents move beyond positions, understand the core needs driving disagreements, and develop workable solutions together.

Drawing on decades of experience facilitating complex negotiations and building consensus among diverse stakeholders, Kimberly works to empower co-parents to make informed decisions with respect, clarity, and confidence. Her focus is on creating practical pathways forward that minimize conflict, reduce unnecessary expense, and preserve parental agency whenever possible.

Diverse Families & Global Perspective

Kimberly has experience working with families from a wide range of cultural, religious, and family backgrounds, including same-sex parents, blended families, interstate parenting matters, and families navigating complex medical, developmental, and educational needs. She believes that every family is unique and that effective solutions require understanding each family’s values, circumstances, and goals.

Her perspective is further informed by extensive international experience. During her twenty-five-year career in technology and strategic partnerships, Kimberly lived in Germany and India and held leadership roles supporting organizations across Europe, the Middle East, Africa, North America, and Asia. These experiences strengthened her ability to work across cultures, communicate effectively with diverse stakeholders, and appreciate the different ways families and communities approach decision-making, relationships, and conflict.

A Personal Commitment

Kimberly’s commitment to supporting families is informed not only by her professional and volunteer experiences, but also by her own family journey. She and her husband are raising their medically intensive son, Oliver, while also celebrating their roles in a blended family that includes their adult daughters, Ami and Marylin.

As the parent of a medically intensive and neurodivergent child, Kimberly has firsthand experience navigating healthcare systems, educational services, therapies, financial strain, and the many decisions that families face when caring for children with complex needs. While every family’s circumstances are unique, this experience has deepened her appreciation for the challenges parents in co-parenting encounter and reinforces her commitment to helping families find practical, child-centered solutions during difficult transitions.

Her approach combines professionalism, objectivity, empathy, and a commitment to helping families move forward in ways that support the long-term well-being of their children.

Reduced-fee and sliding-scale arrangements may be available for families experiencing financial hardship, particularly those caring for children with significant medical, developmental, or special needs in / or high conflict co-parenting.