Child Arrangements

Bringing up children involves making lots of joint, often difficult, decisions. If you don’t live together, it can become harder to do so.  Research shows that children benefit from co-operative parenting following separation or divorce.  Increasingly this is backed up by an expectation from the Courts that as parents you find a way to work together.  Family Mediation can help with these discussions; it can help you to focus on the needs and wishes of your children, to put your children first, but also to ensure that as parents you are the ultimate decision makers; doing what is in the best interests of your children. It is a process which provides a safe space for you to have a conversation about co-parenting and to work together on all aspects of a Parenting Plan.  Some examples of the discussions are: 

• How will the children spend time with each parent?
• How do the children feel about the fact that they now have two homes?
• What do the arrangements look like on special occasions – birthdays, Christmas, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day etc?
• How do we manage flexibility in our arrangements for the children?
• What happens if our children have problems at school?
• How can we as parents communicate effectively about our children?
• Child maintenance (which covers the basics) – is this to be paid?  How do you work out how to cover the extras, which are over and above?