Coparenting
{{Short description|Relationship focused on raising children}}
Co-parenting involves parents who together take on the socialization, care, and upbringing of children for whom they share equal responsibility.{{Cite book|title=Coparenting: A conceptual and clinical examination of family systems|last1=McHale|first1=James|last2=Lindahl|first2=Kristen|publisher=American Psychological Association.|year=2011|isbn=978-1-4338-0991-0}} The co-parent relationship differs from an intimate relationship between adults in that it focuses solely on the child.{{Cite journal|last1=Ellie|first1=McCann|last2=Kjersti|first2=Olson|last3=Eugene|first3=Hall|last4=Maisha|first4=Giles|last5=Stephen|first5=Onell|last6=Rose|first6=McCullough|last7=Jenifer|first7=McGuire|last8=Cari|first8=Michaels|date=October 2015|title=Children in Common: Ensuring the Emotional Well-being of Children When Parenting Apart|hdl=11299/175941}} The equivalent term in evolutionary biology is bi-parental care, where parental investment is provided by both the mother and father.Clutton-Brock, T.H. 1991. The Evolution of Parental Care. Princeton, NJ: Princeton U. Press. pg. 9Trivers, R.L. (1972). Parental investment and sexual selection. In B. Campbell (Ed.), Sexual selection and the descent of man, 1871–1971 (pp. 136–179). Chicago, IL: Aldine. {{ISBN|0-435-62157-2}}.
The original meaning of co-parenting was mostly related to post-divorce parenting arrangements. Only later did the term become extended to shared parenting before divorce, i.e. in intact nuclear families. Since the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, 20 November 1989, the principle that a child has to continue to maintain a strong relationship with both parents, even if separated, has become a more recognized right. The concept of co-parenting was continued to be broadened to all adults serving as parental figures or caretakers for a child--including grandparents or other family members, romantic partners, and close friends whether co-residing or not.{{cite journal |last1=Feinberg |first1=Mark E. |title=The Internal Structure and Ecological Context of Coparenting: A Framework for Research and Intervention |journal=Parenting |date=May 2003 |volume=3 |issue=2 |pages=95–131 |doi=10.1207/S15327922PAR0302_01|pmid=21980259 |pmc=3185375 }}
Married and cohabitation parents
Children benefit from more co-parenting, but the amount of co-parenting varies between couples. Bryndl Hohmann-Marriott has found that the level of collaborative co-parenting was higher among unmarried cohabitation parents and among those who married in response to pregnancy, compared to married couples that became pregnant during a marriage.Hohmann-Marriott B. Coparenting and father involvement in married and unmarried coresident couples. Journal of Marriage and Family. 2011 Feb 1;73(1):296-309.
In a shared earning/shared parenting marriage, child care is divided equally or approximately equally between the two parents. In a parenting marriage, the parents live and raise their children together in a purpose-based marriage without physical intimacy or expectation to share mutual romantic love.Susan Pease Gadoua, [https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/contemplating-divorce/201712/give-your-spouse-the-gift-parenting-marriage-year Give Your Spouse the Gift of a Parenting Marriage This Year], Psychology Today, December 10, 2017.
Separated parents
{{main|Shared parenting}}
Post-separation co-parenting describes a situation where two parents work together to raise a child after they are divorced, separated, or never having lived together. Advocates for co-parenting oppose the habit to grant custody of a child exclusively to a single parent and promote shared parenting as a protection of the right of children to continue to receive care and love from all parents. Epidemiological studies have shown that joint custody and other arrangements where children have greater access to both parents lead to better physical, mental and health outcomes for children.{{cite journal |last1=Baude |first1=Amandine |last2=Pearson |first2=Jessica |last3=Drapeau |first3=Sylvie |title=Child Adjustment in Joint Physical Custody Versus Sole Custody: A Meta-Analytic Review |journal=Journal of Divorce & Remarriage |date=27 June 2016 |volume=57 |issue=5 |pages=338–360 |doi=10.1080/10502556.2016.1185203|s2cid=147782279 }}
Elective co-parenting
{{seealso|Queerplatonic partnership}}
Elective co-parenting, also referred to as parenting partnerships or partnered parenting, may be used as a choice by individuals seeking to have children but who do not wish to enter into a conventional relationship.{{cite journal|last1=Javda|first1=V.|last2=Freeman|first2=T. |last3=Tranfield|first3=E.|last4=Golombok|first4=S. |title='Friendly allies in raising a child': a survey of men and women seeking elective co-parenting arrangements via an online connection website|journal=Human Reproduction|date=1 June 2015|volume=30|issue=8|pages=1896–1906|url= |pmc=4507329|pmid=26040481|doi=10.1093/humrep/dev120}} This phenomenon has been a common practice for gay men and lesbian women in the past, but has become recently more common among heterosexual men and women.{{Cite journal |last1=Jadva|first1=V.|last2=Freeman|first2=T. |last3=Tranfield|first3=E.|last4=Golombok|first4=S.|date=2015-08-01 |title='Friendly allies in raising a child': a survey of men and women seeking elective co-parenting arrangements via an online connection website|url= |journal=Human Reproduction|language=en|volume=30|issue=8|pages=1896–1906|doi=10.1093/humrep/dev120|pmid=26040481|pmc=4507329|issn=0268-1161|doi-access=free}}
Co-parenting by more than two adults
{{see also|Kibbutz communal child rearing and collective education}}
Subject to the laws of their nation of residence, more than two adults may enter into a formal agreement to care for a child together even though only two of them may be granted official legal custody in most countries.{{cite news |last=Carpenter |first=Louise |date=15 December 2013 |title=Meet the co-parents |url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/dec/15/meet-the-co-parents-modern-families |location=The Guardian |access-date=2 June 2017 }}
The Netherlands is considering{{when?|date=March 2019}} a new law making it legal for up to four co-parents to be granted official custody.{{cite news|title=The Netherlands may let children have more than two legal parents|url=https://www.economist.com/news/europe/21727939-proponents-say-law-should-reflect-reality-complex-families-netherlands-may-let|access-date=2 May 2018|agency=The Economist|date=31 August 2017}} In one case, a family of four parents consisting of a gay and a lesbian couple care for their child based on a formal agreement.{{cite news |date=6 December 2016 |title=Twee moeders, twee vaders: volgt nu ook de wet? (Two mothers, two fathers: now also follows the law?) |language=nl |url=http://nos.nl/nieuwsuur/artikel/2146842-twee-moeders-twee-vaders-volgt-nu-ook-de-wet.html |location=Netherlands Broadcasting Foundation, Nederlandse Omroep Stichting |access-date=2 June 2017 }}
Co-parenting in global perspective
This principle of co-parenting was established in Italy at the beginning of the 21st century by the Associations of Separated Parents that for years has been fighting against a culture, a social mindset, and a legislative and legal system that is discriminating among genders{{citation needed|date=July 2014}} in the conflicts between former partners, especially when children are involved. Such associations are in fact also committed to solving several problems related to separations and divorces, such as international child abductions, parental alienation syndrome{{Disputed inline|Claims of gender discrimination and "parental alienation syndrome"|date=July 2014}}, and equal rights between genders in judicial separations and divorces{{citation needed|date=July 2014}}.
The principle of co-parenting (Italian: Principio di bigenitorialità) states that a child has always and in any case the right to maintain a stable relationship with both parents, even if they are separated or divorced, unless there is a recognized need to separate him/her from one or both parents.
Such a right is based on the concept that to be a parent is a commitment that an adult takes with respect to their children, not to the other parent so that it can not and must not be influenced by any kind of separation among parents.
According to article 30 of the Italian Constitution, to be a parent is both a right and a duty. As a right, it cannot be constrained by an action of a third party, even if it would be the other parent; as a duty, it is not possible to abdicate it as well as it is not possible to abdicate any decreed right.
There are some very specific issues in this type of co-parenting that make being a parent or a child difficult. Organizing the child's life and activities, making sure that children receive consistent types and styles of discipline, and making sure that both parents are made aware of the issues in a child's life. Most of the time if a child is in trouble in one parent's house for serious wrongdoing at either home or school, their ensuing punishment could potentially follow them to the other parent's house.
See also
References
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{{parenting}}