PARENTING COORDINATION (PC) PRACTICE: A SURVEY OF EXPERIENCED PROFESSIONALS

This study summarizes a survey of experienced North American parenting coordinators (PCs). The survey was modeled after a similar seminal study of child custody evaluators ( Keilen & Bloom, 1986 ) and seeks to establish a similar baseline standard in alternative dispute resolution (ADR) court‐sanctioned PC practices. Results reveal that PC is being practiced across North America by highly experienced practitioners that are multidisciplinary across legal and mental health professions who work by court order. These PCs work with a specific written PC agreement that specifies basis of authority, scope of authority, terms of service, retainer/fees, and grievance procedures. Results characterize PC as an increasingly established hybrid ADR court‐sanctioned role that is effective precisely because of accessibility to families, the unique knowledge base of the family law professional concerning the dynamics of divorcing families, and the court‐granted authority to help families resolve disputes that are generally more familial and psychological than legal in nature.     

EARLY NEUTRAL EVALUATIONS: APPLICATIONS TO CUSTODY AND PARENTING TIME CASES PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION IN HENNEPIN COUNTY,MINNESOTA

A program to apply Early Neutral Evaluation (ENE), a confidential, settlement‐oriented and accelerated alternative dispute resolution technique, to child custody and parenting time cases has been cooperatively developed by Hennepin county Family Court Services and the Minnesota Fourth Judicial District Family Court. Parties are referred by the court to a male/female team of experienced neutral evaluators for early feedback on the probable outcome of a full evaluation and an opportunity to negotiate a settlement. It has proven to be a highly successful program in its first 2 years, with the majority of cases reaching an early settlement. The ENE program reduces the stress and expense of custody disputes for clients, expedites judicial case management, maximizes Family Court Services staff efficiency, and focuses subsequent evaluations on critical issues.     

PARENTING PLANS

The purpose of this article is to explore the concept of parenting plans as a positive next step in the evolution of child custody law. After establishing the need for a postdivorce parenting scheme more responsive to the real needs of divorcing families, this article will then detail both the conceptual framework of parenting plans and the mechanics of how they actually work in one jurisdiction.     

SHARED PARENTING: CRITICAL REVIEW OF THE RESEARCH LITERATURE

This critical review of the shared parenting research literature highlights the need for sociolegal reform. This article was submitted to the Meyer Elkin Essay Contest and was selected for publication because of its quality and relevance.     

ASSESSMENTS FOR POSTSEPARATION PARENTING DISPUTES IN CANADA

There is controversy in Canada about the use of assessments by mental health professionals to assist in the resolution of postseparation disputes between parents about their children. Although the principles developed by the Supreme Court of Canada to govern the admission of expert evidence in criminal law cases provides guidance for judges in family law cases, in deciding whether to order an assessment or admit expert evidence, family law judges must also take account of the child-related context. Mental health professionals can provide valuable information that would otherwise be unavailable when making prospective decisions about children. Court-appointed assessors also have a significant institutional role in the family law cases that has no equivalent in the criminal law context. Assessors are important not only for the relatively rare cases that go to trial, but they also play a central role in helping to resolve the much larger number of cases that are settled.     

PROGRAMS FOR PROMOTING PARENTING OF RESIDENTIAL PARENTS: Moving From Efficacy to Effectiveness

This article reviews prevention programs that target primary residential parents as change agents for improving children's postdivorce adjustment. First, we review parental risk and protective factors for children from divorced families, including parenting quality, parental mental health problems, interparental conflict, and contact with the nonresidential parent. Following a discussion of brief informational interventions, we describe the findings of evaluations of three multisession, skill-building interventions for divorced parents. Impressive evidence is presented that parenting is a modifiable protective factor and that improving parenting leads to improvements in children's postdivorce adjustment. We then discuss, in greater detail, the New Beginnings Program, which we highlight because it has shown repeated, immediate effects on children's mental health outcomes as well as long-term effects on a wide array of other meaningful outcomes, such as diagnosis of mental disorder in the past year, externalizing problems, alcohol and drug use, and academic performance. Also, mediational analyses have shown that program-induced changes in parenting accounted for changes in mental health outcomes. The remainder of the article describes a research and action agenda that is needed to successfully implement the New Beginnings Program in domestic relations courts.     

CRITICAL ASPECTS OF PARENTING PLANS FOR YOUNG CHILDREN

The debate about the benefits and drawbacks of overnight schedules for young children is hotly contested in family law. This study investigated connections between occurrence of overnights, schedule consistency, number of caregivers, and young children's adjustment to parental separation and divorce. Families ( N = 161) with children aged 6 years or younger were recruited at the time of filing for divorce or child custody (if unmarried); follow-up data were obtained from 132 families 15 to 18 months later. Results indicated that parenting plan variables are related to children's social, cognitive, and emotional behavior, with caregivers and schedule consistency more salient than overnights. Girls benefited from overnights and more caregivers, whereas boys did not. Overnighting children aged 4 to 6 years when their parents filed manifested fewer problems 1.5 years later than did younger children. Even when controlling for parental conflict and parent-child relationship variable, the constellation of parenting plan variables contributed to young children's adaptation.     

CONFLICT AND CO‐PARENTING: THE CONSTRUCTS OF NONRESIDENT FATHERS*

Scots law constructs a co‐parental role for nonresident fathers without clarifying how this should operate in practice. Personal Construct Theory (PCT) offers a useful approach to understanding such fathers’ distinct and changing conceptions of their role. Findings are presented from a study of 17 nonresident Scottish fathers maintaining contact with nonresident children. Idiographic analysis of data from repertory grid interviews administered three times over the course of a year shows that participants perceive family situations in terms of paternal involvement, impact, emotion, or antagonism. Changes in construing following family events support the PCT understanding of hostility; implications for family services are discussed.