Parenting Collaboration
Family mediation can help parents who are separating to coordinate a co-parenting plan that provides the best structure and flexibility for their children going forward.
Many parents want to divorce or otherwise dissolve their relationship with the minimum amount of stress and disruption to their children. Working with a neutral third party is a way to keep things polite and cooperative without needing to go to court.
Issues around parenting and the raising of children have the potential to be one of the most fraught elements of any divorce or separation proceedings.
Spending some time with a mediator can help parents to:
- Smooth out any conflict or misunderstandings that may otherwise occur
- Allow them to communicate more clearly
- Decide on shared goals and plans
Problem Solve Together
Mediation can help parents set the tone for positive and productive collaboration going forward, by helping them work with each other instead of against each other.
Communicate With Trust
Some parents even find that the process helps to regain a sense of trust and a repaired ability to communicate, which may have been damaged in the process of dissolving their relationship.
Co-parent With A Common Goal
The most important thing for any child is to have two parents who want what’s best for them, and who can work together to achieve that – at Separate Simply, we hope to help more families make this a reality.
What is a Parenting Plan?
A parenting plan is a way to develop scaffolding that can help smoothly transition the children to living between two separated parents with the least amount of conflict and will help both parents to consider issues that may arise in the future, such as:
- Decisions around schooling
- The division of vacation time
- Health care decisions
Mediation can help provide separating parents with a model for how to approach parenting decisions going forward, even if they aren’t explicitly covered in the parenting plan.
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Parenting Collaboration
How Does Parenting Collaboration Mediation Work?
During parental collaboration planning, decisions made by both parents with the help of the mediator will be put into a parenting plan that outlines how they will raise their children after their separation is finalized.
This plan covers more than just the amount of time the children spend with each parent – it also outlines the responsibility each parent has to the children and to each other as co-parents.
When parents meet with a neutral third party, the mediator helps parents to communicate clearly and to resolve misunderstandings. Mediation can also:
- help parents clearly identify the issues and
- work towards resolving them,
- providing a healthy model of communication.
Clients should be aware that mediation is not a replacement for legal representation. A mediator simply facilitates discussions between parents. They will not take sides in the event of a dispute.
How is a Parenting Plan Decided?
During mediation, both parents will meet privately with a mediator so that they can focus and pay full attention to their ex-partner’s concerns. Mediation for parenting collaboration plans can be used to discuss many different aspects of parenting, including:
- Parenting time
- Legal custody
- Child support
- Day-to-day needs like who will drive your child to hockey practice
- Plans for schooling and medical care
In general, mediation provides a space for parents to come to an agreement on a shared vision for how their children will be raised and cared for after the divorce or separation is finalised.
Things to Note
Separate Simply strongly recommends that parents have any mediated parenting collaboration plan reviewed by a lawyer in order to make sure everyone understands their legal rights and responsibilities.
It is important that both parents approach parenting collaboration mediation with an open mind and a desire to work with their co-parent peacefully and productively.
As with other kinds of alternative dispute resolution, mediation is not suitable for people who are in abusive, controlling, or otherwise unsafe relationships.