Parenting Agreements

The parenting plan will direct the future parental and parent-child relationships. For this reason, parents should be actively involved in developing the parenting plan. Research suggests that when the parents can work together to develop the parenting plan, the plan is much easier to implement and works more effectively. If the parents are cooperatively parenting, they can be supportive of each other, share responsibilities, and make decisions regarding the child's care and well being.

The parenting plan
Parents know the most about the child and the child's needs. Parents are also aware of their parenting strengths. The parenting plan should be based on both parents' strengths in meeting the child's needs.  A parenting plan should have the following:  how major decisions will be made, the living or residential arrangements of the child and how the child's time is shared between parents, when an emergency decision-making situation occurs, the other parent should be notified as soon as possible, a holiday visitation schedule, dealing with unusual events, winter and summer break, information sharing and any other items that need to be outlined regarding the child.