High Conflict Parenting

Resolving High-Conflict Parenting Issues:

Some parents have serious concerns about their co-parent.  Sometimes, both parents struggle to manage parenting issues. Sometimes, parents are in so much conflict that the court orders them to get help. Either way, the most common cause of a child’s poor adjustment during and following a divorce is parental conflict.

What is Parenting Coordination?

Parenting Coordination is a form of dispute resolution that enables divorced or divorcing parents with high conflict to resolve their issues while focusing on the needs of their children. These meetings are highly structured with the parents, and issues are identified and worked on one issue at a time.

How a Parenting Coordinator Can Help:

The ultimate goal of a Parenting Coordinator (PC) is to focus on the needs of the children by helping their parents resolve their conflicts. Employing the services of a PC helps ensure appropriate parental access and protect children from unnecessary stress.

Some objectives of a Parenting Coordinator:

  • To shield children from conflict
  • To reduce the child’s stress and loyalty binds, allowing him/her to love both parents
  • To improve the co-parenting relationship and increase parental cooperation
  • To develop an effective communication system between homes
  • To teach parents communication and negotiation skills and effective anger management
  • To create a parenting plan (pre-divorce) or mediate parenting issues (post-divorce)
  • To be alert to the reasonable suspicion of any substance abuse by either parent or child
  • To be alert to any psychological or psychiatric impairment of any parent or child
  • To collaborate with all professionals
  • To establish effective boundaries and clarify the role of the step-parents
  • To deal with current or to reduce potential parent alienation
  • To monitor parental behavior
  • To report non-compliance to attorneys and the court when necessary
  • To testify in court if required to do so