Parenting coordinator roles, program goals and services provided: Insights from the Pima County, Arizona program

Parenting coordinator (PC) programs have gained popularity in domestic relations courts across the country. These programs were designed to be an efficient, less costly, less formal and a less time-consuming way to resolve post-divorce parenting conflicts than scheduling court hearings to resolve day-to-day disputes regarding co-parenting and inter-parental conflict. Regrettably little empirical research has investigated any aspect of the programs and services. To begin understanding the services that are being delivered to families and the professionals that are delivering the services, an exploratory study was conducted of a new PC program. Explored were the PCs' general understanding of the goals of the PC program and what the PCs saw as their role in assisting families. Because this program was implemented by people from several professions, the variability between professions in the interventions provided was also explored. Finally, the legal basis for the program was examined to understand if the PCs' views of the program matched that of the legal basis for the program.