It Takes a Village–Taming High Conflict With the “2 PC Model”

Prolonged litigation frequently leaves once‐married and functional parents unable to communicate effectively and coparent with each other. The damage can be even more profound for never‐married parents without a history of ever functioning as life partners or parenting partners. High‐conflict parents often enter into parenting coordination following litigation through stipulation or court order. For some parents, this modality fails to provide enough support and containment of conflict, and postjudgment litigation continues long after the initial divorce. A clinical case study illustrates the use of an experimental, alternative dispute‐resolution intervention we call “the 2 Parenting Coordinator (PC) model.” The 2 PC model evolved by applying the collaborative divorce 2‐coach intervention to parenting coordination for a family in which traditional parenting coordination had twice failed. The case presented involved never‐married parents, whose tenuous and mistrustful connection was threatening to contaminate the child's ability to have an emotionally secure relationship with her father.