J. Parenting Coordination

• Author: Julien D. Payne - Marilyn A. Payne
• Pages: 170-171

Page 170

Pursuant to the initiative of an interdisciplinary group of legal and mental health professionals in Denver, Colorado, in the early 1990s, a process known as "parenting coordination" has evolved in several American states and has spread into Canada.⁶⁹Parenting coordination usually involves mental health professionals assisting parents who encounter ongoing conflict after custody and access issues have already been the subject of a parenting agreement or court order. Parenting coordinators usually counsel and advise parents on how to develop a more positive co-parenting relationship that focuses on the children’s needs. They may be authorized to mediate disputes arising between the parents and, if the parents cannot settle a dispute, to assume the role of an arbitrator and issue a final decision on the dispute.⁷⁰It is customary for parents to agree to med-arb being used to resolve relatively minor disputes that will not fundamentally change the character of an existing parenting agreement or court order. For example, med-arb may be agreed upon by the parents to resolve issues relating to the children’s extracurricular activities, vacation plans, preschool and after-school child care, existing communication problems, pick-up and drop-off arrangements, or minor

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changes to the parenting schedule. Fundamental issues, such as a change of custody, extra-provincial relocation of the children, or substantial changes in the parenting schedule usually fall outside the authority of parenting coordinators.⁷¹Although parents may delegate such functions as they see fit to parenting coordinators⁷²and some Canadian courts may refer consenting parents to a court-appointed parenting coordinator, a court has no jurisdiction to delegate its decision-making authority to a parenting co-ordinator unless there is statutory authority to do so,⁷³as is the case under the British Columbia Family Law Act.⁷⁴In the absence of explicit statutory authority, a distinction must be drawn between the judicial appointment of a parenting coordinator or assessor as a facilitator and the appointment of a parenting coordinator as a final decision maker who forecloses access to the court. The former appointment would appear to be legally permissible but the latter is not.⁷⁵An order for parenting coordination should be made after a final order has been made establishing a parenting plan. It is not the role of a parenting coordinator to devise a parenting plan...