What is a child arrangements order?

A child arrangements order decides: Where your child lives When your child spends time with each parent When and what other types of contact take place (phone calls, for example) Child arrangements orders replace residence orders and contact orders.

What is a parenting plan?

A parenting plan is a voluntary, written plan worked out between parents after they separate. It covers all the practical issues of parenting.

What is parenting coordination?

A form of dispute resolution used by separated parents to help manage day-to-day arrangements for their children and resolve disagreements.

When should you use parental coordination?

Parenting coordinators typically work with parents who have a history of conflict, but who want to change that and develop a positive co-parenting relationship. Because coordinators help implement a court order or parenting plan, you will first need to have one of these in place.

Who are parenting coordinators?

Parenting coordinators are specially trained professionals whose work focuses on helping co-parents manage their child arrangements order or parenting plan, improve communication and resolve disputes. They are also qualified mediators.

What does a parenting coordinator do?

Parenting coordinators help separated parents who may be struggling to follow or implement the terms of a child arrangements order or parenting plan. They can help encourage parents to find strategies to communicate more effectively, to resolve disagreements and to build a positive co-parenting relationship for the future.

Can a parenting coordinator change custody?

No, a parenting coordinator cannot change who a child lives with. Their role is to help parents implement a court order or parenting plan.

Separate well with parenting coordination

Co-parenting after separation or divorce isn't always easy. If you are in constant conflict, support from a parenting coordinator can help break the cycle and build a new co-parenting relationship.

Specially trained parenting coordinators help co-parents to work together, resolve disputes and improve communication. Importantly, they help encourage co-parents to approach things in a child-centred way.

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If you have a child arrangements order or a parenting plan and need help implementing it, a parenting coordinator can:

Work with both of you to understand the scope of the order or plan
Help you to manage your day-to-day co-parenting together
Support you both to develop a co-parenting relationship that provides the foundations for the best outcome for your children
Help you to resolve disagreements and successfully negotiate parenting challenges

What you need to know

Research shows that, when parents are in conflict, their children will feel the impact. And whilst some conflict is to be expected when parents separate, frequent, intense and poorly resolved conflict can have a negative impact affecting a child’s mental health, education, friendships and relationships.

Parenting coordinators typically work with parents who have a history of conflict – perhaps with repeated applications to the court – and who are struggling to follow the terms of the court order or parenting plan but want to change that. The coordinator does not alter the order or plan, but works with the parents to implement it. They also help parents to understand how their children are being affected by the conflict and how to put their children back at the centre of their decision making.

Parenting coordinators are trained mediators and use their mediation skills to help resolve disagreements and encourage parents to communicate with each other.

Some of the things that parenting coordinators deal with are:

Arrangements about a child’s day-to-day care
Difficulties during handovers
Clarifying parts of the court order or parenting plan
Dealing with temporary changes to the usual arrangements for the child
Dealing with non-compliance
Considering why parents are having difficulties communicating with each other and coming up with strategies to improve this

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a child arrangements order?
A child arrangements order decides:
- Where your child lives
- When your child spends time with each parent
- When and what other types of contact take place (phone calls, for example)
Child arrangements orders replace residence orders and contact orders.
What is a parenting plan?

A parenting plan is a voluntary, written plan worked out between parents after they separate. It covers all the practical issues of parenting.
What is parenting coordination?

A form of dispute resolution used by separated parents to help manage day-to-day arrangements for their children and resolve disagreements.
When should you use parental coordination?

Parenting coordinators typically work with parents who have a history of conflict, but who want to change that and develop a positive co-parenting relationship. Because coordinators help implement a court order or parenting plan, you will first need to have one of these in place.
Who are parenting coordinators?

Parenting coordinators are specially trained professionals whose work focuses on helping co-parents manage their child arrangements order or parenting plan, improve communication and resolve disputes. They are also qualified mediators.
What does a parenting coordinator do?

Parenting coordinators help separated parents who may be struggling to follow or implement the terms of a child arrangements order or parenting plan. They can help encourage parents to find strategies to communicate more effectively, to resolve disagreements and to build a positive co-parenting relationship for the future.
Can a parenting coordinator change custody?

No, a parenting coordinator cannot change who a child lives with. Their role is to help parents implement a court order or parenting plan.

Vlogs from our family lawyers

This vlog is a discussion about parenting coordination between Caitlin Jenkins and Claire Molyneux, her Mills & Reeve colleague who is a solicitor, mediator and parenting coordinator. They explore the origins of parenting coordination, when it can be used by separated couples to assist with the implementation of an agreement or order about the arrangements for their children, what the process is and whether it works.

In this vlog, Caitlin Jenkins introduces fellow Mills & Reeve colleague, Claire Molyneux, a specialist expert in family and children law. They discuss the sort of work that Claire does with families who are in high conflict, in particular as a mediator and as a parenting coordinator.

Principal Associate Claudia Gilham leads this virtual discussion, recorded on 13 September 2021. Claudia is joined by Michele Friele of No5 Chambers, and Kam Kaur and Claire Field of Parenting Apart Programme to discuss the important issues to consider when dealing with parental conflict and supporting child development.

Separate well with parenting coordination

Our lawyers

What you need to know

Frequently Asked Questions

Vlogs from our family lawyers

Visitors

Existing clients

Staff

Separate well with parenting coordination

Our lawyers

What you need to know

Separate well with one lawyer

Frequently Asked Questions

Vlogs from our family lawyers

Visitors

Existing clients

Staff