Term for persons who share in child care activities.

The term co-parent is applied to several different parenting scenarios. A co-parent may be a person who does not have legal custody of a child but who shares in the child care with the custodial parent. A person sharing a household with a parent and his or her child is an example of a co-parent. A co-parent may also be a step-parent who has not legally adopted the stepchildren. Homosexual couples use co-parent to describe the partner of the parent who has legal custody of the children (through adoption or biological birth).

Coparenting is also used to describe the situation where two parents cooperate as closely as possible in sharing all facets of child rearing. In addition to having both joint legal and physical custody, the parents arrange to divide responsibility for the day-to-day tasks involved in child care, such as chauffeuring the children, attending school activities and teacher conferences, purchasing clothing and other necessities, and taking the children to doctor appointments.

For Further Study

Books

Gold, Lois. Between Love and Hate: A Guide to Civilized Divorce. New York: Plenum Press, 1992.

Lansky, Vicki.

Vicki Lansky's Divorce Book for Parents: Helping Your Children Cope with Divorce and Its Aftermath. New York: Penguin Books, 1989.

Shapiro, Robert. Sharing the Children: How to Resolve Custody Problems and Get On with Your Life. Bethesda, MD: Adler & Adler, 1988.

Warshak, Richard A. The Custody Revolution: The Father Factor and the Motherhood Mystique. New York: Poseidon Press, 1992.

Organizations

Joint Custody Association (JCA)
Address: 10606 Wilkins Ave.
Los Angeles, CA, 90024
Telephone: (310) 475-5352

Parents Sharing Custody (PSC)
Address: 420 S. Beverly Dr. Suite 100
Beverly Hills, CA 90212-4410
Telephone: 310-286-9171