DC4K » Co-parenting

Question of the week: What custody arrangement is best for the children?

People ask me this question quite often. Usually, they are children’s ministry leaders or church leaders who don’t have much experience with divorce or single-parenting issues. Nationally, there is a huge debate on this issue. Let’s take a step back in history to help you understand some of the issues in this debate. In 1969, when then-Governor Ronald Reagan signed the no-fault divorce Read more…

Posted: May 16th, 2018 ˑ 2 Comments
Filled under: Accept the Challenge, Co-parenting, Divorce Issues, Single Parents

Question of the week: What are the causes of kids being unruly during and after a divorce?

Many things are happening in children’s lives when their parents separate or divorce. Children don’t understand adult problems, and even though a lot of their friends have divorced parents, many children simply don’t know what the word “divorce” means. All they know is their parents were together, and now one parent is packing up to leave. In Divorced Kids by Laurene Johnson Read more…

Posted: January 10th, 2018 ˑ No Comments
Filled under: Co-parenting, Discipline, Divorce Issues, Emotions, Modern families, Preschool, Question of the week, Single Parents, Step and blended families

Co-parenting that hurts kids and what you can do to help

Co-parenting or shared parenting among divorcing couples is becoming more popular. For many children this is a good thing. This means they get to have both parents making life-long decisions for their welfare. It means children can still have family connections with both sides of the family. In our last post, Understanding co-parenting situations we talked about the three different models of co-parenting Read more…

Posted: February 22nd, 2017 ˑ 4 Comments
Filled under: Co-parenting, Discipline, Divorce Issues, Emotions, Single Parents

Understanding co-parenting situations

African-American couple talks in kitchen

Co-parenting or shared parenting as it is more commonly called now is becoming the norm for divorcing couples and couples who are involved in cohabitation situations. The marriage or relationship has ended but the family still exists. But what exactly is shared parenting? Shared parenting is when separating couples request the courts to award legal joint custody of minor children to both parents Read more…

Posted: February 20th, 2017 ˑ 6 Comments
Filled under: Co-parenting, Discipline, Divorce Issues, Single Parents

Back-to-school tips for the divorcing parent

When a couple divorces, many times they attempt to keep the breakup quiet. Perhaps they are embarrassed– or feel it a private matter. More than likely though, one or both spouse are so overwhelmed with a range of decisions and emotions they are coping with that they don’t think about telling other people. Often, schoolteachers are among the last to know. In a recent study 94% of teachers surveyed Read more…

Posted: September 16th, 2015 ˑ No Comments
Filled under: Accept the Challenge, Co-parenting, Discipline, Divorce Issues, Grandparents, School Issues, Single Parents, Step and blended families

Question of the week: How is child custody decided– and how do I understand custody definitions?

It can be confusing for anyone ministering to the child of divorce and or divorcing parents. Following are questions children’s ministers in particular have asked me. Is there a formula that is used when deciding custody and visitation? Do all states have the same rules when it comes to child custody? What is legal co-parenting? What is shared parenting? What does sole custody Read more…

Posted: July 13th, 2015 ˑ No Comments
Filled under: Divorce Issues, Question of the week, Single Parents, Step and blended families

Question of the week: Can you help me understand child visitation arrangements?

“I understand the ‘every other weekend’ visitation schedule. I understand a child visiting the other parent on holidays and during the summer. But we have kids in our church whose attendance is so sporadic. We never know when they are going to show up.” “We have custodial parents who say they have custody but they come to us with horrific tales of woe. Read more…

Posted: September 29th, 2014 ˑ 4 Comments
Filled under: Accept the Challenge, Attracting families, Divorce Issues, Question of the week, Single Parents, Step and blended families, Visitation

What buzzed you? Our top-10 blog posts

Silhouette, group of happy children playing on meadow, sunset, s

We just celebrated the first anniversary of our Kids and Divorce Blog. It gave me a great excuse to step back and look at what got the most attention in a year’s worth of posts. I want to share that information with you. “Effects of divorce on the 6, 7 and 8 year old children” was read more than any other post. It Read more…

Posted: April 23rd, 2014 ˑ No Comments
Filled under: Brain Research, Co-parenting, Discipline, Divorce Issues, Emotions, Holidays, Research, Uncategorized