PARENTING COORDINATION
BKR’s parenting coordinators bring compassion and experience to your parenting issues.
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If you find yourself struggling with parenting issues after your case concludes, or even while your case is pending, parenting coordination may be right for you.
Parenting coordinators are neutral parties, usually mental health professionals or lawyers, who work with both parents together to resolve parenting disputes, and assist parents in improving communication on issues related to their children. If you and your co-parent find yourselves bogged down in disputes over the meaning of a Court order, how to handle a parenting issue that is not addressed in a Court’s order, or just navigating day-to-day parenting issues, BKR’s parenting coordinators can help you come to a resolution much more quickly than economically than going through the litigation process.
Parenting coordination typically involves an initial meeting between the parenting coordinator and both parents, where all parties introduce themselves and the issues at hand. Depending upon the situation, the parenting coordinator may elect to conduct additional sessions with each party individually, and/or to conduct phone or email communications on various issues. The method of communication will be clearly set out and agreed upon by all parties during the initial parenting coordination session.
Once you and your co-parent reach agreement on an issue, the parenting coordinator typically will reduce the agreement to writing, and have both parents sign. The agreement then is forwarded to counsel for both parties, and perhaps to the Court, depending upon the specific situation. At this point, you and your co-parent can move forward, knowing that you have reached an agreement with which each of you is satisfied, in a manner which protected your family from the stress and expense inherent in the court process.
Depending upon the type of parenting coordination you and your co-parent choose, the parenting coordinator also can be given the power to make “binding recommendations” in the event an agreement is not reached. You always retain the right to bring those recommendations to the judge for review and approval (or disapproval), but the parties are bound by the recommendation until the trial court says otherwise. While a “binding recommendation” is a last resort for a parenting coordinator, it does provide the ability to give guidance on issues that might ordinarily become “stuck” in the court system, so that co-parents have “rules to live by” instead of waiting in limbo for a court date and ultimate decision from the judge.
BKR Parenting Coordinators:
If you have more questions about parenting coordination with BKR, send an email to any of our parenting coordinators, or call 317-571-3601.
