SERVICES
Parenting Resources
Centered on your child. Focused on your family.
Children’s Law Center provides tools and resources to help parents and caregivers overcome challenges, build healthy relationships, and create lasting stability for their children. These supports are designed to guide families through difficult times and restore a safe, loving child-focused environment.
Support for Every Step of Your Parenting Journey
Supporting Your
Relationship
with Your Child
Healthy relationships between children and parents are the foundation of a strong family. Whether you’re repairing a fractured bond or navigating the challenges of step-parenting, the right guidance and support can help build trust, understanding, and connection. These resources offer practical tools to strengthen your relationships and promote your children’s well-being.
Fractured relationships occur when the connection between parents and children is disrupted. These challenges can arise from experiences such as trauma, separation, mental health struggles, or substance use. Understanding the sources of these disruptions is the first step and practical strategies and trusted resources can help families begin to heal, rebuild trust, and strengthen their bond.
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The ABCD Communication Method
The ABCD Communication Method helps you connect and communicate with your child. There are four elements that you can focus on:
Affect: the right tone of voice to evoke safety
Body Language: open, comforting gestures
Cultural Cues: respecting context
Delivery: clear, reassuring words
The SHARE approach
The SHARE approach will help you in promoting your child’s Safety, taking time to avoid Hurrying, fostering Attachment in brief, effective ways, restoring Regulation that may have been disrupted, and encouraging Efficacy for both parent and child.
The 3 RS
The 3 Rs can be used to support your child’s safety and emotional well-being.
Reassurance that they are safe, Routines that are consistent yet flexible, and Regulation to help them manage stress and emotions. -
If you live in a family with step-children or are a step-parent, you are not alone. Millions of children in the U.S. are part of step-families, and nearly 40% of new marriages involve at least one partner with children from a previous relationship.
The introduction of a new parent can create tension as children navigate loyalty dynamics and adjust to step-siblings. Step-parenting can be especially challenging in families already affected by divorce or the loss of a parent.
Fractured Relationships
Step-Parenting
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Build the relationship slowly while respecting the feelings of the children
Set realistic expectations
Respect the individual needs of the child
Use clear communication
Set clear rules and boundaries
Participate in parenting classes or other support as needed
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Strengthening the Parenting Partnership
Navigating a separation or divorce with children is challenging, but it’s also an opportunity to develop
new ways to communicate, cope, and parent. Effective coparenting, tailored to each family’s needs, supports children’s stability, emotional growth, and safety. While styles and approaches may vary, the goal is to prioritize the children’s best interests and maintain healthy relationships with both parents.
Cooperative coparenting is a team approach where separated or divorced parents work together to support their child’s well-being. It relies on clear communication, mutual respect, and shared decision-making, prioritizing the child’s best interests. This approach helps minimize conflict and provides children with stability and consistency during family transitions.
Transactional coparenting takes a more business-like approach, focusing on clear boundaries, structured interactions, and fulfilling parenting responsibilities. While it prioritizes efficiency over emotional connection, fostering support, cooperation, and positive family functioning can help parents manage co-parenting duties effectively and maintain stability while promoting their child’s emotional and social development.
Parallel coparenting allows parents to remain involved in their children’s lives while minimizing direct interaction with each other and operating independently in their respective homes. Each parent manages their own rules, routines, and decisions within their home, focusing on the child’s well-being. By providing stability, structure, and shielding children from conflict, this approach supports emotional and social development even in high-conflict situations.
Cooperative or Collaborative Coparenting
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Develop a coparenting plan to guide decisions and handle disputes
Maintain personal support to manage stress, including therapy
if helpfulHold regular check-ins (e.g., monthly) to discuss schedules, schoolwork, and child needs
Respect boundaries and privacy in each home
Avoid revisiting past conflicts
Use appropriate communication channels—face-to-face, email, or phone—to minimize conflict
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Transactional Coparenting
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Apps and communication tools such as AI may be helpful for scheduling and relaying information between parents
Create routines in each household
Communicate about the child only, written communication may be helpful
Keep messages concise and use a business-like tone
Respect each other’s boundaries
Prioritize the child’s well-being
Speak kindly about the other parent in front of the children
Discuss changes to the co-parenting plan in advance
Understand that others can be deceptive in their basic social interactions, and understanding and identifying these behaviors can lead to better communication and transform relationships
Understand and address social and communication challenges experienced by children with autism if applicable
Enhanced assessment and intervention methods that support families in their efforts to facilitate their child’s development
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Parallel Coparenting
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Create a clear parenting plan outlining schedules, communication methods, and each parent’s responsibilities.
Allow each parent to make day-to-day decisions during their parenting time.
Attend school events or other functions separately if needed to reduce conflict or stress on the child.
Use co-parenting apps or tools to exchange information efficiently.
Keep communication business-like and focused on the child.
Avoid trying to influence or control what happens in the other parent’s home.
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Navigating Custody and Conflict
Family conflict and domestic disputes can disrupt children’s sense of safety and well-being. If your child is experiencing stress from these situations, you are not alone—many families face similar challenges. However exposure to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) can have lasting effects on emotional, physical, and academic development. Children who experience multiple ACE are at higher risk for health problems, behavior challenges, and difficulties in school.
Families can take steps to heal and support their children by accessing guidance, building stability, and implementing practical strategies that can help reduce the impact of conflict.
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Work with a Parenting Coordinator (PC): A PC is a neutral professional who helps high-conflict parents implement parenting plans, mediate disputes, facilitate communication, and ensure compliance with court orders, including parallel parenting arrangements. Their authority and
role are defined by the court.Create a Parallel Parenting Plan: Parallel parenting plans reduce direct interaction between high-conflict parents by separating parental duties.
A Guardian ad Litem (GAL) may provide neutral input to the judge, helping design a plan that promotes stability, clarity, and the child’s well-being.
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How Families Can Support Their Children
iIf your family is navigating a CH 50B Civil Domestic Violence cases (DVPO) and CH 50 High Conflict Custody case, Children’s Law Center’s Custody Advocacy Program (CAP) provides legal advocacy that prioritizes your child’s safety, stability, and well-being. Click here to get immediate support from the CAP team.
Additional Resources for Your Parenting Journey
For families seeking additional guidance, a variety of resources are available to help navigate parenting challenges, strengthen relationships, and access professional support.
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Coparenting apps are digital platforms that help divorced or separated parents manage their children's schedules, communication, and finances by centralizing information and fostering clear, organized, and documented interactions.
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Explore these parenting and coparenting classes to gain essential skills, reduce conflict, and build healthier family dynamics.
HealthySteps Program in Guilford County | CHS (Guilford County)
North Carolina Online Coparenting Class — Modern Parenting Solutions Psychological Services
Co-Parenting — Terrie Hess Child Advocacy Center (Salisbury or Zoom)
Level Up Parenting(Greensboro)
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These websites offer guidance for parents and advocates considering parallel parenting. You’ll find practical tips, definitions, and strategies for success, as well as free tools like downloadable parenting workbooks to help navigate co-parenting challenges effectively.
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Courts often recommend consulting a therapist or using therapeutic resources for parents who choose a parallel parenting plan. The professionals below provide guidance and support to help families navigate co-parenting, reduce conflict, and promote children’s well-being.
Request Additional Support
Please email CAP@ChildLawNC.org, call 336-831-1909, or fill out the form below.