Parenting Coordination is a private decision making process that uses, education, mediation and arbitration to assist parents in resolving day to day parenting disputes in carrying out their parenting agreement or order.
Who should use a Parenting Coordinator:
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Anyone who has an agreement or court order respecting parenting time can use a Parenting Coordinator. However, most often they are used for high conflict situations or where the family doesn’t want to rely on the court system for making decisions about the Children.
What does a Parenting Coordinator do:
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A Parenting Coordinator can help you with the disagreements around the implementation of your existing parenting plan. During their retainer a Parenting Coordinator can help educate parents, mediate disputes and where necessary, make binding determinations for the family. This can help decrease conflict, limit future court applications and legal costs and help keep the focus on the children.
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For example, if your agreement or order about parenting time says you pick the child up on Sundays but you and the other parent disagree about the pick-up time or place a Parenting Coordinator can help solve the disagreement. This keeps you and the other parent from having to go back to court over small issues.
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It is important to note that a Parenting Coordinator is limited in the decisions that they can make and cannot make any decisions that fundamentally change your agreement or order.
How to hire a Parenting Coordinator:
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Parents in conflict can retain a Parenting Coordinator on their own initiative or be referred to a Parenting Coordinator by the court for a period of time (usually 2 years per retainer) to assist the family.
How do I know that they are qualified to make decisions about my family:
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Parenting Coordinators must meet the British Columbia Family Law Act minimum training and practice standards. They must have at least 10 years experience in a family-related field and take specified training in parenting co-ordination, mediation, family law, decision-making, skills development, and family violence.
