PARENT COORDINATION

Janette is a Florida Supreme Court certified parent coordinator and mediator in the 4th Judicial Circuit Court. She has provided marriage and family counseling over nineteen years. Growth in marriage and all relationships require intentional efforts to introspectively examine our obstacles to success or lack thereof in our relationships. Humility and submission is necessary that we begin work within ourselves to be able to attack barriers to building strong marriages and other intimate relationships.

Sometimes lack of energy, interest, resentments and hostility formulate permanent barriers to intimate relationships. Children born of these relationships are dependent upon parents to work beyond their differences to formulate shared parenting strategies.

Parent coordination is a sophisticated form of alternative dispute resolution designed for high conflict families involved in paternity or marriage dissolution cases. The parent coordinator performs a neutral role to help the parties resolve conflicts which would result in a high number of contested court proceedings.

The purpose of parenting coordination is to provide a child-focused alternative dispute resolution process whereby a parent coordinator assists parents in creating or implementing a parenting plan facilitating the resolution of disputes between parents by providing education, making recommendations and with the prior approval of the parents and the court making limited decisions within the scope of the court’s order of referral.

Parent coordination emphasizes the needs and interests of children, parents, and families. It is based on the concepts of communication, education, negotiation, facilitation and problem-solving. The parent coordinator utilizes skills from the areas of mental health, law, and conflict resolution.

Parent coordination strives to facilitate a shared parenting agreement when this is in the best interest of children. Parents are educated on how their children will be effected by the restructuring of the family and the impact of parent’s behavior on the children.   Parents are encouraged to do as much as possible to minimize negative impact of their behavior on their children. Parenting plans focus on:

  • Visitation schedules
  • Communication with the children
    • Rules
    • When
    • How – cell phone, home phone, skype, email
    • Length of time
    • How often
  • Parenting Communication
    • Bad mouthing
    • Rules of engagement
    • Cooperative versus parallel parenting
    • Sharing of information- email, text, telephone, fax
  • Visitation schedules
    • Holidays
    • Pick up and drop off
    • School issues
    • Travel
    • Decision making