Divorce and separation can be hard for children, potentially more than it is for you and your former spouse. The process is full of tension, anxiety, and conflicts, where kids are often involved in parental disputes.
To resolve the matters and facilitate positive parenting through and after separation, it’s may be best to request and appoint a parenting coordinator who’s neutral and can assist with the implementation of a solid parenting plan.
Do You Really Need a Parenting Coordinator?
No matter how well you try to keep your child safe and away from the influence of divorce, the hostility may eventually get to the children and can have adversarial effects on their mental health, social adjustments and ability to bond in healthy ways.
Cooperating with your partner can be extremely hard and exhausting during such times, with the assistance of a parenting coordinator, everyday battles, disputes, and differences can get easier to handle.
In a sense, a parenting coordinator can facilitate the reduction of the daily conflicts between you and your spouse over custodial matters.
Additionally, if you’re working with a licensed therapist as your parenting coordinator, you also may be offered counseling and guidance on how to implement a co-parenting plan that’s in the best interests of your child(ren).
So, if you’re going through a stressful divorce and are worried about your relationship as a parent being damaged, a clinical parenting coordinator can definitely help you make better decisions. Plus, it’s the best possible way of keeping your child protected from the psychological harm that comes with severe parental conflicts.
Does a Parenting Coordinator Improve Your Parenting Skills?
Definitely, yes!
The best Parenting Coordinators are often those that are licensed mental health professionals, with specialization in matters that strengthen the family unit(s).
Parenting Coordinators who are not properly trained or are simply burnt-out can indeed exacerbate already strained, family relationships. The job of a good Parenting Coordinator is to work themselves out of a job. An effective Parenting Coordinator is in fact a temporary support, put in place while families find their new balance. A reliance or on-going need for a Parenting Coordinator to guide you, is either a lack of effectiveness in the role of the coordinator and/or an underlying mental illness which requires more in-depth and on-going psychiatric support of one or both of the former spouses (there is usually a documented history, already, if the latter is the case).
If you are wondering about starting with a Parenting Coordinator talk with your therapist, they will know how to help guide you on your journey as an ex.