Parenting Coordination for High Conflict Custody Cases What are parenting coordinators? Parenting coordinators are a child-focused method of alternative dispute resolution used in high conflict child custody cases. A parenting coordinator is a neutral third-party brought into custody cases to reduce the level of conflict by helping the parents make better decisions concerning the parenting of their children. While the mandate of parenting coordinators may vary somewhat from case to case, their focus is on the multitude of small daily decisions the parents must make about their children – precisely the same small decisions that provide so much grist for the mill. Individually, these decisions may each be small, but when aggregated as a whole, they comprise a huge portion of the problems encountered in custody cases. Parenting coordinators don’t decide which parent will be a child’s primary caretaker; that decision remains the responsibility of the judge. The parenting coordinators typically (though not always) become involved in a case after a judge has issued a custody order. Much of their work involves helping parents work out the issues that fall between the cracks of a judge’s order. Parenting coordinators help in a variety of ways. First, they help the parents improve their communication skills when discussing parenting issues. Poor communication is one of the hallmarks of a marriage that ends in divorce, a factor that is doubly present in high conflict custody cases. It is not possible for parents to co-parent effectively without first being able to communicate with one another. Parenting coordinators also teach the parents about particular developmental issues faced by their children as they proceed through the divorce. They will referee the conflicts between the parents in an attempt to help them reach mutual agreement. When necessary, a parenting coordinator will actually make the decisions if no agreement could be reached. Cooperative Parenting sessions Session 1: Commitment to Caring Session 2: Children can love both parents Session 3: Letting Go or Holding On Session 4: Make It Better or Keep It Bitter Session 5: Managing My Anger Session 6: Taking Control of Conflict Session 7: Negotiating Agreements Session 8: Cooperation of Conflcit Parent/Couple sessions available
Posted on: Mon, 17 Jun 2013 01:30:09 +0000
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