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PUTTING CHILDREN FIRST HELPS PARENTS LOCKED IN BITTER DIVORCE BATTLES


Parents who have decided to separate or divorce are being offered the chance of a quicker, less costly resolution thanks to a service that puts the emotional and mental needs of their children first.


The Parenting Apart Programme, supported by No5 Barristers’ Chambers, is promoting a scheme which can reduce the stress, trauma, and conflict of a family breakdown by making the emotional wellbeing of the children the main priority. It aims to support and swiftly restore positive and respectful communication between parents, especially where the non-resident parent and child do not have a relationship with each other and can be offered as a choice alongside Mediation.


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Claire Field, Social Care Consultant and Author of The Parenting Apart Programme, said: “Parents can come together whenever and however they wish, in order to start to communicate and plan all their children’s arrangements. Court proceedings are expensive, traumatic, and a divorce can average around £16,000 and take 18 months. Many people come to us having already spent tens of thousands of pounds and are often not speaking to one another. Sadly, we often deal with situations where a child has even lost contact and their relationship with one of their parents.


“The programme is specifically designed to remind people that they are parents first and foremost and that their battle is having a devastating impact on their children’s emotional and mental wellbeing and development. Our challenge is to deal with often warring parents, and a high level of emotion, and support them to feel safe and secure to come together as parents and the lever for that is the voice of the children.”


Tony McDaid, CEO and Director of Clerking at No5 Barristers’ Chambers, said: “We consider it a social responsibility for us to support a scheme that can have such far-reaching effects on children and family life.”


The initial four-week programme involves individual and joint face-to-face sessions, Parent Working Agreements and continued advice and guidance to ensure that parents are prioritising the emotional and mental wellbeing of their children throughout.


Claire Field, Social Care Consultant


The aim of this intervention is to help parents formalise an agreement that identifies important issues such as childcare arrangements, transitions of care, holidays, schooling and the child’s wishes and feelings. Unlike mediation, the agreement can be filed alongside a Court order to confirm arrangements made by the parents if required. At the end of the programme, parents receive a letter to confirm that they have attended an Alternative Dispute Resolution which then allows them to self-certify the C100 if Court needed.


parentingapartprogramme.co.uk


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