Category Archives: Parenting Coordination

Parenting coordination (PC) is a dispute resolution process for parents who have a parenting plan in place and need help communicating with each other, interpreting the details of their plan and working through disagreements about it. Often a PC can help parents agree in a simple meeting to review the language of their parenting plan, working through possible interpretations and …
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One of the toughest issues facing parenting coordinators is where one parent accuses the other of child alienation. For PCs like me, who are lawyers and not mental health professionals, it can seem like a daunting challenge. And so I recently attended “Children Resisting Post-Separation Contact: Concepts, Controversies, Assessment and Intervention” led  by eminent experts on the topic, Dr. Barbara …
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Did you know that Hilary Linton, Avagene Skervin, Lindsay Kertland and Borzou Tabrizi are all trained to interview children? We are strong believers in child-inclusive mediation and parenting coordination. Why? Because interviewing children makes us better at what we do. In our practice as mediators, parenting coordinators and arbitrators, we keep the views and preferences of the child in focus …
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Ontario parenting coordinators (PCs) and family arbitrators want to ensure that their process agreements meet the requirements of the Arbitration Act, the Regulation under it that governs family law adjudication and the Family Law Act. How can they do that? Although not required by Regulation, it is recommended that anyone who is providing private family law adjudication be trained in …
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Parents coming to parenting coordination are most often exhausted from their separation process and feel resistant to committing to yet another process that requires further engagement with each other. They may be feeling defensive and guarded, and are likely entrenched in certain behaviours with each other. The role of a parenting coordinator is a supportive role. Parenting coordinating is designed …
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A Parenting Coordinator (PC) can play a pivotal role in helping high-conflict coparents navigate their relationship in a way that allows them to refocus on the very difficult job of parenting. Here are some tips that to ensure the process has its best chance for success: Set realistic expectations. A PC can, for some coparents, enable a transformative experience that …
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(Evans v Evans, 2023 ONSC 3919 CanlII)   A recent decision of Justice Lene Madsen highlights many of the issues addressed daily by family mediators, arbitrators and parenting coordinators, and also confirms that the courts have no jurisdiction to order parenting coordination in Ontario. Here is a summary of the decision: It is a 159 paragraph decision resulting from a …
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It is common to hear Parenting Coordinators (PCs) talk about how tough it is to do this work.  But PC work is tough for the parents too!  I work with many parents who are understandably reluctant to start the PC process. They are coming from a place where their experience with the other causes them to have little faith that …
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