Parenting Coordination
“Children are not resilient, children are malleable.”
Parenting coordination is a hybrid legal-mental health role that combines assessment, education, case management, conflict management, dispute resolution, and, at times, decision-making functions… A Parenting Coordinator seeks to protect and sustain safe, healthy, and meaningful parent-child relationships. Parenting coordination is for co-parents who are unable or unwilling to jointly make parenting decisions, communicate effectively, comply with parenting agreements and orders or shield their children from the impact of parental conflict.
- Association of Family and Conciliation Courts (AFCC), Guidelines for Parenting Coordination (2019).
What is the role of a Parenting Coordinator?
The parenting coordinator assists co-parents engaged in high conflict co-parenting to implement their parenting plan by:
Facilitating the resolution of their disputes in a timely manner;
Educating coparents about children’s needs;
With prior approval of coparents or the court, making decisions within the scope of the court order or appointment contract.
Your child or children are the center of my Parenting Coordination process. I agree deeply with Dr. Bruce Perry’s quote above- children do not just “bounce back” from adverse experiences. They need support through large transitions, especially the shifting of their family structure.
After one initial individual meeting with each co-parent, future Parenting Coordination work is done as a team. I help co-parents establish guidelines for communication and then work together to find alignment on specific dilemmas that arise. As a third party, whose priority is the children, with training in mediation and therapy skills, I work to help my clients put aside their frustrations with one another and prioritize their children.
This role is court-appointed, but please contact me before motioning the court, to assure I have availability.