Parenting Coordination
“A difficult separation can contribute to deep rooted animosity and anger. Some parents can’t come back from that experience and move to co-parenting without the help of a parenting coordinator.”
Parenting Coordination is a dispute resolution option for parents who continue to experience high conflict with co-parenting their children. At the start, the parenting coordinator is the functional link between high conflict parents. The primary role pf a parenting coordinator is to help high conflict parents develop effective communication and problem solving skills that are focused on reducing/eliminating conflict while maintaining positive parent child relationships and eventually eliminating the need for a parenting coordinator.
Parenting Coordination is for…
Parents who have finalized their separation but continue to have difficulty finding a way to co-parent with their former spouse may benefit from working with a parenting coordinator. Most parents are able to find a workable co-parenting dynamic and routine by the 2 year mark.
Parents who continue to co-parent in a high conflict dynamice and creating an emotionally unsafe home for their children that can impact their mental, pysical and social health.
Most parents in this group may have one or more of the following characteristics:
- continued and reoccurring litigation
- high levels of anger and distrust of the other parent,
- difficulty in communicating about and cooperating in the care of their children,
- lack of impulse and anger control,
- inability to abide by parenting plans,
- history of verbal or physical aggression towards others,
- frequent power struggles over the children in the divorce process
- behavior the courts would find warrant the appointment of a parenting coordinator.
At Summit, we…
- assist parents in implementing court ordered parenting plans and/or mediate expanded intent and details of existing plans
- monitor compliance with the details of the plan
- Resolve conflicts in a timely manner while sustaining safe, healthy and meaningful parent-child relationships
- serve as case manager and family “coach” to facilitate the changes necessary for effective family functioning
- provide guidance and education about communication skills and children’s needs
- mediate, and where necessary, arbitrate disputes
What are the benefits of using a Parenting Coordinator?
Parenting Coordination benefits parents:
- Addresses disputes quickly and more efficiently
- Assists parents in defining their new roles as co-parents
- Provides education on child development
- Allows parents to increase communication, anger management, and problem solving skills
- Develops conflict resolution models to allow parents to co-parent in a successful manner throughout the years to follow
- Saves court time and costs
- Decisions made will be based on the unique family characteristics of the parents and the children
Parenting Coordination benefits children by:
- Enhances the chances that both parents will stay involved and active in the child’s life
- Decreases the high-conflict interactions that children have been exposed to
- Allows parents to model problem solving to the children, rather than relying on courts for decisions
- Ensures child safety through open communication between parents
- Avoids possible parent alienation syndrome
- Provides a safe person for the children to talk to about their relationships with the parents
- Increases the child’s understanding of parents working together in his/her best interest
Co-parenting is for life. Your kids are divorce kids for life. Following separation/divorce, your children are looking to see whether or not they lost their parents. When parents don’t/can’t/refuse to measure up, the burden of divorce becomes theirs. Regardless of what happened, it’s your job to help them to thrive in a one child, two homes world.
Contact us today to see whether Parenting Coordination can help you and your family.