Voices of Children in Parenting Coordination.

• Author: Quigley, Catherine

Parenting coordination is a form of alternative dispute resolution ("ADR") targeting the needs of separated parents who are experiencing entrenched conflict and are having difficulty implementing court orders and parenting plans. Through different techniques such as negotiation, problem-solving, education, mediation, and--in some jurisdictions--decision enforcement, the goal of the parenting coordinator ("PC") is to help lower conflict between the parents and keep their dispute outside of the courtroom. This ADR is gaining more and more popularity in North America and although research on its efficacy is still scarce, the literature is so far showing promising results.

The body of literature on the voice of the child in post-separation interventions has led to the conclusion that children want to have the opportunity to be heard in matters that concern them. Children do not want to make choices regarding custody arrangements but they do want their input to weigh in on the decisional scale. Moreover, research shows that children are more likely to consider custody arrangements to be fair if they are given a say in the decision-making process. Not only do most children want to be heard in post-separation proceedings, it is one of their fundamental rights as part of the United Nations Convention for the Rights of the Child, ratified by Canada (Article 12):

Paragraph 1: "States Parties shall assure to the child who is capable of forming his or her own views the right to express those views freely in all matters affecting the child, the views of the child being given due weight in accordance with the age and maturity of the child." Paragraph 2: "For this purpose, the child shall in particular be provided the opportunity to be heard in any judicial and administrative proceedings affecting the child, either directly, or through a representative or an appropriate body, in a manner consistent with the procedural rules of national law." Parenting coordination is an intervention for parents in which children may occasionally be asked to participate. There is, however, no consensus as to if and how children should be given a voice in parenting coordination. In the Parenting Coordination Guidelines published by the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts ("AFCC") in 2005, the directions about child inclusion are vague and the decision to include them is left to the PC in charge. To our knowledge, no study so far has focused on the inclusion of...