Beyond the Judgment: Why I Use Handouts in Parenting Coordination

Sep 23, 2025·By Cori McGuire

Free Resources, Practical Education, and the Limits of One-Size-Fits-All Advice

If you share parental responsibilities with your co-parent in British Columbia, you are likely aware that section 40(2) of the Family Law Act requires parents to consult one another when making significant decisions affecting their children. While the legal duty is straightforward, the practical reality can be much more challenging. Many parents find themselves struggling not because they lack good intentions, but because they lack a shared framework for navigating conflict, communication, and decision-making.

Over the years, I have developed a growing library of articles, handouts, and educational resources to support parents in that process. These materials are available free of charge because I believe that access to practical information can help reduce confusion, increase understanding, and provide a starting point for more productive conversations.

The purpose of these resources is not to tell parents what decision they must make. Rather, they are intended to provide information, perspectives, and practical tools that may help parents approach difficult situations more effectively. The materials often serve as a neutral reference point, allowing parents to step back from the immediate conflict and focus on broader principles, communication skills, and child-centred decision-making.

One of the greatest benefits of educational resources is that they create a common language. When parents are reading from the same materials and discussing the same concepts, conversations often become less focused on blame and more focused on problem-solving. Education can help parents understand patterns that are common in separated families and recognize that many of the challenges they face are neither unique nor insurmountable.

At the same time, education has limits.

No article, handout, checklist, communication protocol, or parenting resource can determine what is in the best interests of a particular child. Family law in Canada requires individualized consideration of each child's circumstances, needs, strengths, vulnerabilities, relationships, and developmental stage. What may be appropriate for one child may be entirely inappropriate for another.

Indeed, even siblings within the same family may have different needs requiring different solutions. The law recognizes children as individuals, not as categories. Every child has the right to have decisions made based on their own circumstances and best interests rather than on a generic formula or universal parenting rule.

For that reason, these materials should be viewed as educational tools rather than answers. They may provide guidance, ideas, and frameworks for discussion, but they are not legal advice, psychological advice, or a substitute for the individualized analysis required in any particular family.

As my practice evolves, these resources will continue to evolve as well. New materials will be added, existing materials may be revised, and my understanding will continue to be informed by experience, research, and the realities faced by the families I work with every day.

My hope is that these resources help parents move beyond positional conflict and toward more thoughtful consultation, more effective communication, and ultimately better outcomes for their children. The goal is not perfect parenting. The goal is creating conditions that allow children to thrive.

Written by Cori McGuire, a Parenting Coordinator with 28 years of family law experience in British Columbia. Read other articles about the PC process and "the best interests of the child" in our Resource Library.

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