Shared Parenting
EveryChild seeks to promote an alternative to institutional care called “shared parenting.” Shared parenting describes an arrangement where care of a child is jointly shared across two households, between parents and a supportive alternate family. Shared parenting can be an innovative way to provide an alternative to a facility by providing practical assistance to a family while enabling a child to enjoy the benefits of family life when they can’t live at home. Children can live with another family (called a Support Family) and yet remain an integral part of their own family’s life.
Parents report that the experience of having another family who values their child is tremendously supportive, rather than threatening or causing guilt. A Support Family can become like extended family.
A child’s needs are best met when a parents and a Support Family form a trusting relationship and work together on the child’s behalf. A successful arrangement involves a good relationship between the child and the Support Family, but also between the Support Family and the child’s parents. The two families work out a “parenting coalition” where they develop a workable agreement about their mutual expectations.
You can hear from parents and Support Families who are engaged in shared parenting arrangements by linking to our Stories.
Special situation for children in Child Protective Services
For children whose parents are involved in the child protective system, the interaction between the Support Family and the parents are outlined as part of a child protection plan which is monitored by state agency staff and the court. A shared parenting arrangement could be designed with the close collaboration between the child protective system and both families.
