Family and collaborative lawyer Judith Jordan was one of the first practitioners in Adelaide to have completed such training. Clare Jobson is the principal solicitor at CJ Legal and recently completed a three-day intensive training with 17 others across Australia.

Previously a paediatric nurse, Ms Jobson is an independent children’s lawyer trained family solicitor, who has a “very strong child focussed approach” to her parenting matters.

“It is my firm belief that parents need support beyond the parenting agreements and orders that have been made by them or for them (because they were unable to agree), so that they can successfully implement them. The children at the centre of those arrangements need better futures with parents who are able to co-parent successfully,” she said. 

“Parental conflict does not magically end with the parenting agreement or interim and/or final orders. Parents who have been engaged in high conflict for such a long time need assistance to implement their parenting orders and agreements with firm guidance to achieve child focussed outcomes. 

“I see this method of dispute resolution as vital for all parents in conflict. With the escalation of issues for many parents during the ongoing pandemic and its inherent restrictions and complications is not easing any of that parental conflict and stress in families who feel that they are left to their own devices once orders and agreements are made.”

Ms Jordan said she undertook the training to reduce stress on families, particularly during snap lockdowns and whilst navigating confusing government restrictions.  

“Miscommunication between parents is a huge issue that does not usually get addressed between parties in the adversarial setting of litigation. Working as a Parenting Coordinator to help families address those issues either during transition or immediately afterwards appeals to me as a way to reduce stress on the children and help families move forward into a positive working relationship as a team with children as the focus,” she said. 

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“The uncertainty of the pandemic has made everyone uneasy – I can only imagine how transitioning families, who already have the stress of the adult relationship ending and are in court, must be experiencing it. 

“The more the families work and find solutions with their parenting coordinator the more they will improve their problem-solving skills over time with the aim that the PC becomes redundant.”

Family court orders can often be confusing, leading parents to continue to contact their lawyers, often for months or years at a time. Ms Jordan said that the use of PCs will reduce the cycle of contraventions and relitigation. Furthermore, it is reportable to the court therefore giving the parents an incentive to “work it out and be seen to do so.”

“If a PC has been appointed either after interim Orders or as part of the final Orders, then there is a mechanism for discussion with a neutral coach who can reality test and make suggestions as to how to approach each other in a non-hostile and child focussed way,” Ms Jordan clarified. 

“The PC can see parties together or convene one on one sessions to work through communication stumbling blocks.”

Additionally, Ms Jobson said that parenting coordination can be done via Zoom if current lockdowns persist and will therefore continue to hold parents accountable. 

“Parenting coordination will assist to break the litigation cycle and the overloaded court lists with the appropriate intervention and hopefully reduce future conflict and prevent the need for future contravention applications to be filed and drag the parties back into court again,” she said. 

“Only those who are genuinely not engaged and attuned to their children will end up back in the litigation cycle. Practitioners will still be involved in providing clients with their Independent Legal Advice in all aspects of family law. 

“Parties in the Family Law jurisdiction will always need collaboratively trained practitioners and mediators to assist them to reach out of court settlements and arrangements. Parenting Coordination helps them to implement those arrangements so the parents are not left trying to navigate those alone.” 

Whilst the legal profession has had to embrace a wide range of new notions during the pandemic, Ms Jobson said “there is always reluctance in our old profession that historically doesn’t like change much”. 

“I remain hopeful that there will be enough child focussed practitioners out there who will embrace a change that has the potential to provide wonderful new starts for families going through separation and make the recommendations for parenting coordination when parties are attending dispute resolution conferences as a pathway to successful co-parenting,” she said. 

“The public has been very vocal about how bad our current Family Law system is perceived. It is time to implement positive outcomes for children of separated parents.”

Ms Jordan added that education was key to making sure that lawyers, as well as the public, know that parenting coordination is an option. 

“We must educate our colleagues and the Judiciary on the potential benefits to our families of resolving children’s matters in a less hostile environment by providing a better support system around them,” she said. 

“Now we are getting to final orders and leaving families with poor communication to fend for themselves. The children suffer as a result. We need to educate the public as well so they know it’s an option and can seek it out.”

Looking to the future, particularly in a post-pandemic world, both solicitors said that they were excited to be at the forefront of parenting coordination.

“As a qualified Parenting Coordinator, I am able to work with both parents to achieve child focussed outcomes. I am so excited at the prospect of assisting parents with their transitions out of conflict into co-parenting,” Ms Jobson said. 

“Parenting coordination enables me to work with the parents, and sometimes extended family members and children to ensure that the children can grow up in a better supported way.”

Ms Jordan added that this method has helped make communication child focussed and will continue to be useful in future cases. 

“With many clients I have role played with them about how they are going to ask for something not specifically covered in the Orders, and I have often in high conflict cases coached them on the emails before they send them or the conversation before they have it, to try and make the communication child focussed. This doesn’t always get them their favoured outcome but at least they can have a dialogue with the other parent that assists them in reaching a better decision and they may start to understand the other’s point of view,” she said.

“It’s about helping clients to see their own patterns that they don’t want to repeat – that is a worthwhile use of my years of experience if I can help people move forward and into new relationships with each other and others and not repeat all their past errors of judgment – all the while modelling better emotional intelligence to their children so their ‘emotional default position’ as an adult is a better one.”