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Parenting Plans: Prioritising Your Children’s Well-Being

At Life Mediation, we believe that your children’s well-being should be at the heart of every decision during and after separation. One of the most effective ways to ensure their stability and happiness is by creating a solid parenting plan. A well-thought-out parenting plan not only provides structure for your children’s lives but also helps to minimise the conflicts that can arise between parents during a separation.

Our experienced mediators specialise in assisting parents to develop fair and mutually agreeable parenting plans. These plans are tailored to meet the unique needs of your family, ensuring that both parents are actively involved in their children’s lives (if that is appropriate).

Even in situations where communication has broken down and ex-partners have been unable to resolve their differences, our mediators have successfully facilitated mediation sessions in which the parents came to agreements that work for everyone involved.

Fast and amicable resolutions reduce stress for everyone, particularly the children, who benefit most from a stable and predictable environment.

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Key Components of a Parenting Plan

A successful parenting plan covers several critical areas, ensuring that both parents understand their roles and responsibilities.

Here are some ideas of what could be included in a comprehensive parenting plan:

1. Care and Living Arrangements:

Your parenting plan should clearly outline where the children will live and how time will be shared between parents. This includes weekday and weekend schedules, holiday arrangements, and any special occasions.

2. Decision-Making Responsibilities:

It’s essential to specify how decisions regarding the children’s education, health care, and extracurricular activities will be made. Whether decisions are made jointly or assigned to one parent, clarity in this area can prevent future disputes.

3. Communication Between Parents:

A good parenting plan will establish guidelines for how parents will communicate about the children. This might include regular check-ins, the use of a co parenting app such as CoOperate agreeing to use specific apps designed to facilitate co-parenting communication.

4. Special occasions:

Major holidays like Christmas, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Easter, and birthdays should be specifically outlined in your parenting plan. Decide in advance how these days will be divided or shared, ensuring that both parents can participate meaningfully in the children’s lives during these special times. This clarity helps avoid conflicts and ensures that the children enjoy consistent, stress-free celebrations.

5. Travel and holidays:

Your parenting plan should address how travel will be managed, particularly if one parent wishes to take the children on an extended trip or if there is a possibility that one parent might relocate. Setting clear rules for how these situations will be handled is important for maintaining stability in the children’s lives.

6. Conflict Resolution:

Even with the best parenting plan, disagreements can arise. Your plan should include a strategy for resolving conflicts, such as returning to mediation or involving a neutral third party. Having this in place can help prevent minor disagreements from escalating.

The Harmful Effects of Negative Parental Behaviour

Certain parental behaviours can be particularly damaging to children and should be avoided at all costs. These include:

  • Using children as messengers to carry hostile or critical messages to the other parent.
  • Asking children intrusive questions about the other parent’s personal life.
  • Creating situations where children feel they need to hide information from one parent to protect the other.
  • Making children feel guilty for showing affection towards the other parent.
  • Speaking negatively about the other parent in front of the children.

 

These behaviours can lead to a range of negative outcomes for children, including behavioural problems, issues at school, trust issues, low self-esteem, difficulties in forming friendships, and long-term challenges in establishing healthy adult relationships. A well-structured parenting plan can help prevent these issues by setting clear boundaries and expectations for both parents which in turn reduces conflict between the parents.

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Parenting plan mediation services in Australia.

The Importance of Early Intervention

Early intervention is key to reducing parental conflict and its damaging effects on children. By creating a parenting plan early in the separation process, you can establish a framework that promotes your children’s safety and helps them adjust to the new family dynamics in a healthy way.

The sooner a parenting plan is in place, the sooner children can begin to adapt and find stability in their new circumstances.

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Life Mediation’s Approach to Parenting Plans

At Life Mediation, we are dedicated to helping you create a parenting plan that works for your unique situation. Our mediators bring a wealth of experience and a compassionate approach to each case, helping you focus on what truly matters: the well-being of your children. By working together, we can help you build a parenting plan that fosters a positive, stable future for your family, minimises conflict, and supports your children as they navigate the changes in their lives.

Creating a parenting plan is not just about dividing time; it’s about ensuring that your children continue to feel loved, supported, and secure as they grow. Let Life Mediation help you achieve a parenting plan that works for everyone involved.

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What Our Clients Say

Discover how families who have worked with Lisanne have found a way to move forward, been provided the support they needed, and were able to find a solution that works for everyone involved. 

Thanks to Lisanne at Life Mediation, my ex husband and I were able to move on from the trenches of divorce. For two years we had been trying to reach a successful co-parenting agreement but poor communication and conflict ruled for us. It seemed that reaching an amicable resolve was impossible.

Lisanne, assisted us in keeping our focus on the best interests of our child. Without Lisanne facilitating and directing the effective communication between us we would never have thought the results achieved were possible.

We are both incredibly grateful for the service we received and very much appreciated the timely manner in which we were able to be seen.

Lisanne listened and contributed appropriately and we both felt heard, understood and not at all judged which helped us feel comfortable to openly discuss things. We couldn't have asked for a more effective and efficient service. Being treated with respect, compassion and empathy made such a difference and we now have reached the end goal and have a clear parenting plan and foundations for an amicable co-parenting relationship.

Thank you very much Lisanne. Couldn't recommend a better mediator.
Lisa
Lisanne provided me with a beautifully professional service in facilitating skillfully the separation agreement for my wife and I under very amicable terms. She provided a nurturing meeting place with in which we could carefully discuss the issues surrounding our daughter and our assets and arrive at a mutually agreeable outcome. Thank you.
Martin, father of one child
Lisanne is a passionate advocate for families achieving the best possible solutions for their situation. She is smart and highly astute : with a background in Law, as well as Transformational Leadership, Lisanne has an amazing ability to distillate the emotion whilst bringing compassion and rigour to the situation.

Her capacity to listen objectively, validate people's experience and make complex situations simple, is to everyone's advantage in settling conflict . She is the answer to a resolving highly emotional issues which affect the lives of adults and children alike. Your children will thank you for doing so.
Suzie AtwellFounder
I was requested to attend mediation by my estranged partner to help assist us in negotiating suitable access arrangements for our 2 young boys. Lisanne Iriks from Life Mediation was the mediator who assisted us over 2 sessions.

Lisanne was amazingly supportive and professional during the stressful mediation sessions. She supported both parties and facilitated a safe and constructive environment which ensured neither party was put at a disadvantage.

I was extremely happy with Lisanne and would recommend her to anyone who requires professional, supportive and timely mediation.
Emily, mother of two children
My daughter’s father and I decided that we needed to attend family mediation to help assist us in deciding what was best for her in regards to living arrangements and visitation. Lisanne Iriks from Life Mediation was recommended to me so I gave her a call.

I called Lisanne and she spent time on the phone with me explaining how family mediation worked, the supporting role she would provide and just listening to me during this reasonably stressful time.

Lisanne provided quick and professional assistance that supported both my daughter’s father and myself and ensured that guidelines were followed to ensure neither party was put at a disadvantage. As I was at least two and a half hours from Fremantle, Lisanne made appointments and arrangements with this in mind. Our final meeting was done via teleconference and worked remarkably well.

I was extremely happy going through Life Mediation and would recommend them to anyone who requires professional and reliable family mediation. I would also say that even if you live a couple of hours away from Fremantle the traveling is well worth it.
Michelle, mother of two children
Dear Lisanne,

I wanted to write to you quickly and say thanks for your time during mediation. I was referred to you by my legal firm and I have already recommended you to a friend of mine. Your calm and straight up approach was refreshing and after the first session with you I felt I was doing the right thing and had found the right mediation service. Thank you.
Robert, father of one child
Life Mediation provided their services at very short notice and Lisanne provided a safe and respectful forum for both parents to discuss a range of very sensitive and stressful separation and children’s care issues. She was a great help and very approachable before, during and after the sessions and I would recommend her services to anyone needing this area of expertise.
Max, father of two children
Our family dispute resolution experience with Lisanne was fantastic. My ex partner and I started with opposing views and within 2.5 hours we had agreed on a fair and workable plan that met our child’s needs as well as ours. Lisanne was warm, calm and professional, and very effectively guided us through a very difficult conversation. With her help, we avoided judgmental, aggressive and nasty behaviour and didn’t get sidetracked by past events. In the end, it wasn’t nearly as stressful as I thought it might be and we avoided conflict. Being able to chose between face to face or telephone mediation was also really helpful – it made it easier for everyone to attend and helped us manage our strong emotions. Lisanne also sent us the mediated agreement much more quickly than I expected, meaning the whole process was quick, relatively painless and very effective. I would recommend Lisanne to anyone about to go through family dispute resolution or mediation.
Emma, mother of one child
Lisanne provided a well-framed initial interview and her follow up was extraordinarily quick, including informing me of any lack of response from my former partner. I can say that the process ‘made a difference’ because I was clearer on the processes themselves, including how mediation might assist.
John, father of three children (online mediation)
Firstly I would like to thank you for the prompt service you provided.

As for feedback, I was very happy with the manner in which you conducted your work. I was met with understanding and patience as well as a clear and understandable description of the mediation process. This along with the fast responses to my calls and emails made me feel as though I had made the right choice in dealing with life mediation.

Your attention to detail was excellent and I found myself leaving your office with a refreshed feeling of hope that I feel I had almost lost entirely.

I would definitely recommend life mediation to anyone who needs the service and rate the experience 10/10. From the bottom of my heart, thank you Lisanne for everything you have done for me.
Ben, father of one child
Lisanne was wonderful and very supportive . I would highly recommend her services.
Sam, grandmother of two children
Thank you Lisanne for you professionalism and support through what was a very difficult time. It is very much appreciated.
Kellie, mother of one child
I felt comfortable in discussing our issues today in your presence whilst you where mediating the situation and think that your great at your profession and I would recommend you to anyone.
Terry, father of one child

Please note that the names of our clients have been changed to protect their privacy.

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Family Mediation

Whether you have recently split-up, you are getting a divorce, dissolving a civil partnership or you have been separated for a while, you may need to work out arrangements with your ex-partner for your children or financial separation.
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Conflict in the workplace is a common occurrence. In fact, statistics tell us that managers spend approximately 20% of their time dealing with conflict. On a 40 hour work week, that is 8 hours – a full day per week!

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Workplace Mediation

Conflict in the workplace is a common occurrence. In fact, statistics tell us that managers spend approximately 20% of their time dealing with conflict. On a 40 hour work week, that is 8 hours – a full day per week!
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