Co-Parenting After Divorce
Divorce is a crisis for all parties involved but parents are, understandably, often most concerned about how the divorce will affect their children. Whatever differences in parenting style that existed within the marriage might now be exacerbated with two separate households. My goal is to assist families in developing the “Bi-Nuclear” family – the family in which the children feel at home and supported in two nuclear families rather than feeling that their one home has been divided into two competing family systems.
With a non-judgmental and empathic approach, I will assist the co-parents in deciding on the following important issues:
- Which policies and procedures will be the same in both homes and which ones will be subject to the individual parent’s style and comfort
- Which decisions must be made jointly, and which can be made individually
- How such joint decisions will be made
- Agreement on what is communicated to the children
In the process, I will model collaboration, appropriate communication and respectful dialogue and problem solving. If only one parent is available for this counsel, we will work on what that parent can do individually to meet these goals.