Further compounding the problem is the fact that co-parenting is a fluid, ongoing process. Children’s needs are naturally in continual flux as they progress through the different stages of development. As they get older they have new interests, challenges, independence and responsibility. Unforeseen circumstances commonly occur which are not addressed in the Parenting Plan, and families simply ‘outgrow’ the existing Parenting Plan.
Parents who work together to resolve the issues and modify or create a new Parenting Plan in mediation, go a long way toward avoiding or alleviating their children’s stress and overall family conflict. Court battles are expensive and destructive to everyone in the family. Most parents will do everything in their power to protect their children from being the subject of a court dispute over co-parenting. Parenting Plan mediation can be the answer for everyone, but most importantly, the children.
Your children will only ever have one mother and one father, and this relationship is forever, regardless of the age of the children or the status of their parents’ relationship. However, since many families also include other adult relationships serving in a parenting role, such as step-parents or grandparents, and the children’s interests are best served where any parenting roles are coordinated for consistency and minimal conflict.
Your Family Mediatoris both a Florida Supreme Court Certified Mediator and a Qualified Parenting Coordinator. As such, Parenting Plan mediation with Your Family Mediator can be an extremely effective and valuable tool at any stage of parenting or any stage of the parents’ relationship, whether they are married or not.
Florida courts require all divorcing parents to submit a Parenting Plan for the court’s approval. The Parenting Plan must specifically identify potential co-parenting issues and spell out how those issues will be addressed. Once the judge has approved the Parenting Plan, its terms stand as a court order. Thus, after the divorce is final, if parents disagree as to parenting decisions, the Parenting Plan dictates the outcome.
Parenting Plan mediation can be an extremely effective tool to help parents negotiate new strategies to accommodate the present needs of the children. The process facilitates creative, constructive dialog between parents who have been unable to effectively communicate with one another and collaboratively resolve co-parenting disputes.
Both parents have the opportunity to be heard and to express their thoughts and concerns in a safe, neutral atmosphere. Topics like time-sharing schedules, transportation, daycare, education, healthcare, religion, extracurricular activities, or any parenting issue which the parents cannot resolve are well-suited to co-parenting mediation.
Don’t let the court dictate what your future will look like.
Parental discord can arise merely out of differing parenting styles. Moreover, post-divorce co-parenting is often complicated with the introduction of parents’ new relationships, often including step- or half-siblings. Where parents fail to agree or reach a compromise on how to handle their children’s changing needs, they invariably expose their children to conflict and stress, which is extremely detrimental to their well-being.
CALL TODAY FOR A FREE CONSULTATION (904) 483-3837
The process of creating, executing and implementing a Parenting Plan can be overwhelming at best and contentious and adversarial at worst. Typically, most parents have either agreed to shared parenting responsibilities or the court has ordered that they have “Shared Parental Responsibility.” Ironically, however, many parents either don’t fully understand what ‘shared parenting’ entails in real life, or are reluctant or resistant to fully embrace the concept of co-parenting with an ex-spouse.
Your Family Mediator
Your Family Mediator
CALL TODAY FOR A FREE CONSULTATION
(904) 483-3837
PARENTING PLAN MEDIATION
Parenting Plan Mediation helps create, modify or better implement co-parenting solutions.