CREATING
A
PARENTAL
PLAN
- Have you recently split from your partner?
- Unsure How to sort Support Payments?
- Unable to Agree on Child Access
- Want to avoid going to court with your Ex?
Every family is unique and the kind of parental plan you develop for your kids should be designed to suit your specific family circumstances. Co-operative parenting is a process that involves dialogue and planning so that you can develop a common set of values. By having common parenting values, things can be easier for children because they get consistent messages and do not get a lot of exposure to high levels of conflicts between their parents.
A parental plan is a detailed document outlining parental responsibilities, custody arrangements, and decision-making processes post-separation or divorce. It’s crucial for establishing a clear framework for co-parenting, minimizing conflicts, and ensuring the well-being of the children involved.
PARENTAL PLANS & PARENTING VALUES
Creating a comprehensive parenting plan through family mediation can be a constructive way to address the needs of young people and ensure their wellbeing. A written parenting plan, often developed using a parenting plan template, outlines key aspects such as school holidays, extracurricular activities, and special occasions like Christmas and Father’s Day. During mediation, family members, including the ex-partner, discuss practical issues and form a written agreement that covers health care, child care, and legal custody arrangements, including joint legal custody if applicable.
What are your current expectations for them and what you would hope to see happen as they get older. When working on a parenting agreement you should also consider the child’s needs; their education, school trips, parenting schedules as well as holidays and birthdays. It is important that both of you try to respect the parenting values of each other as you look forward to agreeing on a common parenting value system. As you do this, you need to recognise that you cannot have identical parenting values.
By understanding this for your assessment meeting you will be able to reach a common parenting value that will be beneficial to your children.
Cooperative parenting will depend on how effective you are able to deal with conflicts at the beginning of your separation. It also depends on how well you are able to communicate as parents and remain flexible.
AS YOU PLAN FOR CO-OPERATIVE SEPARATED PARENTING YOU NEED TO:
• Agree and stick to a specific schedule that is effective for your kids.
• Share the parental power to make decisions.
• Be ready and willing to use the same rules in each house.
• Be ready to give support to the other parent in case things are very difficult between the parent and the child.
Parenting plans can be used for recording or formalising values and other detailed arrangements.
You should be prepared to get involved in detailed planning before you are ready to sit down and develop the parenting plan.
The parenting plan could cover the following:
• Agreement on how the children will school.
• Agreement on holiday plans.
• How communication should be carried between your children and their other parent.
• Introduction of new partners in life.
• How parenting time should be shared between both of you.
• How your children are to be guided on discipline matters.
In order to come up with a comprehensive separated parenting plan, you can seek assistance from family consultants or lawyers.
Solent Family Mediation will help you with a template of a parenting plan which you can adapt to suit your specific family needs.
This is important in order to ensure that you attain a separated family unit which is intact. With a plan in place your children will be able to grow well and never be affected by the separation.
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