coParenter is pleased to announce that we are offering a 60-day free coParenter licence to Alberta families. This offer is made in collaboration with 11 volunteer mediators who are RFJS Collaborators and have been trained on the coParenter ProTool, and is supported by ADRIA which has offered free membership to the volunteer mediators who are not already members. (The volunteer mediators are all practicing family mediators in Alberta, who have offered to provide their services on a voluntary basis for the duration of this free licence.)
The coParenter platform provides families with a number of tools to help them manage, organize and resolve everyday coParenting responsibilities, with (or without) the assistance of a coach or mediator. These tools include:
- Documented messaging, with a language filter that coaches parents to use appropriate language
- Templates and support to create parenting time schedules, which can be incorporated into existing online calendars. This includes regular schedules, vacation schedules and holidays
- Tools to reach agreement on issues, activities and schedules
- Tracking parenting time
- Triage and diagnose issues
- Share child-related information
- Manage and document expenses
Perhaps most important, is the overall coaching and empowerment of families that is achieved through the online tool, coaching and mediation processes. Here’s how one family member described their experience with coParenter:
“This app has literally saved my step-daughter. Things are so much better now. Communication is much more civil, way less arguments … it has really made a difference.”
The app has increasingly been successfully used in families where high conflict and domestic violence has been experienced, and those families have reflected on the power of the tool:
- “I think it has helped us resolve the anger and yelling. It’s no longer an option.”
- “… there is less manipulation from (coParent) in the texting, so easier to make decisions for the children.”
- “Yes, coParenter has given me and my son’s mother a way to communicate in regards to our son, while being monitored to make sure we are kind to each other.”
You can go online to our website to learn more about coParenter
We recently did a demo of the app with the Impact network of domestic violence networks, which you can watch to see how the coParenter tools work together to support family well-being.
Why is coParenter offering the app for free to Alberta families?
Because it’s the right thing to do.
And because we have a long relationship collaborating with the RFJS, and we support the efforts to promote family well-being. As a social-impact venture, coParenter’s focus on child and family well-being is completely aligned with the RFJS. Our stated mission is to eliminate high-conflict divorce from the list of ACEs and we have incorporated this into the features and functionality of the coParenter platform.
We know that society needs to be more responsive to the social, relationship, parenting and financial challenges that families are dealing with. In this time of crisis, we need the tools to deliver our services quickly, effectively – and remotely. coParenter is a tool that will empower families to manage, organize and resolve their everyday coParenting responsibilities.
How can you assist us to give Alberta families access to the coParenter Consumer Tool:
Just provide this link to the coParenter Consumer Tool to parents, who can use the link to register for free. The link will take them to the google or apple app store, where they can download the coParenter app. They just follow the directions to register (name and email) and then they can begin to use the tools in the app.
Our volunteer coaches/mediators will be available to assist families upon request, on Mondays and Fridays between 8:30 am-5:00 pm, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays between 8:30 am-7:30 pm, and on Saturday afternoons between 12:30-4:00 pm. Individual mediators may also be able to schedule other times to meet with you, if needed.
This is also your opportunity to experience the value of the coParenter ProTool for professionals and organizations who work to support families:
Mediators
Mediators can use coParenter ProTool with new and existing clients to manage cases and deliver mediation services. As a mediator working with both parents, as soon as you onboard both clients, their accounts will be linked. Parties can schedule remote mediation sessions or access coaching and support. You’ll have access to their communication transcripts, coParenting activity and agreements and be able to send links, share documents and other related material.
Parenting Coordinators
All of the same mediator features, with the authority and ability to make (and document) decisions on the parents’ behalf.
Lawyers/Legal Aid
On-board your new or existing client and have them add their coParent to their own account. If the other parent refuses to use coParenter, your client can continue to use the app to communicate with you about legal matters through a private and secure channel. coParenting issues will be channeled to an RFJS-volunteer mediator who can provide brain science-informed remote mediation. Your client can check back with you before any agreements are finalized.
Community Organizations
coParenter helps you stay connected with your clients as they navigate their coParenting journey. Give clients a free subscription to coParenter and introduce them to myriad tools they can use to become better, more informed coParents. On demand mediators take pressure off your organization’s limited resources and provide clients with the support they need to maintain a positive, on-going coParenting relationship.
Domestic Violence Agencies
With an eye towards DV prevention, coParenter allows you to monitor victim/offender communication, coParenting activity and geo check-ins and provide real-time, custom feedback that supports behavior modification in DV cases.
Police & Protective Services
Respond to DV calls by providing parties with a powerful tool that documents communication and coParenting activity, going forward. Immediately connect parties with local DV resources that can monitor behavior and deliver high-fidelity support.
Courts / Judges
Tell family litigants about the coParenter tools to communicate better, make agreements, establish parenting time schedules, and resolve simple matters arising in their coParenting relationship.
This will help to avoid unnecessary conflict and litigation, and will provide families with the tools to improve child and family well-being. We believe public trust and confidence in the justice system is enhanced when families can resolve disputes with the support of, but without being dependent on, the courts for all their disagreements.
What will happen at the end of the 60-day free licence?
We are working with the RFJS to survey end-users, and to seek the experiences of the volunteer mediators and other professionals who work with the coParenter tool during the free licence, to learn more about how the tool is best used to improve outcomes for Alberta families. Our hope is that the experience that individual users, professionals and organizations that support families, will lead to opportunities to create professional and organizational ProTool licences which will enable you to continue to make this tool available to Alberta families. In any event, individual families will also continue to be able to access the services on the tool through individual licences, which they can purchase online for a monthly fee.
If you have any questions, please reach out to us: support@coparenter.org
Talking About Reforming the Family Justice System - Helping Families Thrive 