We have recently discovered a fabulous child-focused website which parents can subscribe to in order to assist them communicate with one another. We discovered the website because a Judge from the Family Court of Western Australia recommended the website halfway through one of our clients Trials.
The website is called Our Family Wizard. The website encourages more collaboration and less confusion over scheduling of parent time, sharing important family information, managing expenses as well as creating an accurate log of communication.
The website is secure and provides a central location to document and share important information about your family which can be accessed by most mobile phone devices. The website also has an interesting blog with many posts that centre around parenting issues.
One of the main problems that we observe and hear about with separated parents communicating, is that they tend to, whether intentionally or not, pass on messages to the other party through their children. This website really allows parents to communicate away from the children and shields the children from conflict arising from communication and helps keep things moving forwards.
The website can be used for many things including:
- Tracking divorce and separation communications;
- Message board;
- Shared journal;
- Child custody calendar;
- Visitation schedules;
- Shared expenses and expense log;
- Email and text notifications.
There are a number of similar websites available and we mention this one because of the positive comments which were made, and emphasized, very recently by a Family Court Judge Hearing one of our clients matters. Other similar websites include Talking Parents, 2Houses, and Our Children Australia. Given the current emphasis and reliance within society upon online communication and the like, these types of websites are perfect for separated parents to communicate through and create a record of past and current communications and arrangements surrounding their children.
Family Court Judges really appreciate parents who can communicate effectively in relation to their children, as it is in a child’s best interests that communication be well-behaved and courteous. Communication is more likely to be along these lines if it is being recorded and logged. Therefore using a website like the ones we have mentioned promotes better communication between parents.
