Tech Tools For Joint Parenting

A large part of any family mediation practice involves helping parents sort out communication issues. Often times, the frustrations of shared parenting get in the way of allowing parents to focus on their children. All parents want to be the best that they can be for their children. In rational moments, they also know that if they can support each other’s efforts to co-parent, their children will reap the benefits of a more stable and in-tuned joint parenting environment.

There are many reasons why joint parenting is difficult. In separation, divorce and post-divorce cases, parents have often separated amidst difficult circumstances. An atmosphere of miscommunication, mistrust, misrepresentations and mixed signals pervades difficult parenting situations. Sometimes existing orders or parenting schedules are unclear, language is imprecise or the paperwork doesn’t cover all contingencies. Parents are frustrated by many wasted hours trying to gain clarity and children are caught up in a confusing living environment that each parent knows is not optimal.

In these situations, clear communication about the parenting schedule, finances, upcoming events and appointments for the children would help to minimize difficult family dynamics. Gathering all information together in a central location helps build a record of the existing situation that will better help parents organize their information and track existing issues. These features are present in many specialty parenting software systems available today. Increasingly, this software has emerged as a very useful tool for helping to make joint parenting easier.

The software helps clarify the weekly schedule, not just what the agreement or order says but also allows parents to input current information about the child’s daily schedule, color codes transitions, alerts parents to schedule changes and asks for reconciliation of schedule conflicts. This makes accounting for swapped days much more accurate. Parents can also ask for email reminders and notifications of events. Some programs are more sophisticated and include chat areas, daily logs, document upload areas, databases for contacts, academic and medical information and a few provide financial tracking and reconciliation.

These tools are powerful aids for those of us who help families improve their communication and attain certainty around joint parenting issues. They establish a forum of clear communication and accountability. By eliminating many of the most common areas where dispute can arise, they help minimize stress between parents.

Most of the software being developed for joint parenting requires parents to have on-line access to use the software, much of it is encrypted to ensure data remains secure, but check each site to verify their level of access and security.

The software comes with a cost, but considering the price of a disagreement – both financial as well as emotional, this is software that may be well worth the investment.

Next Post: A snap shot of some of the programs currently on the market