The recent Cartabia reform provides, among other things, interventions and implementations aimed at giving greater efficiency in proceedings relating to individuals and families.
Efficiency, according to the reform, should be achieved on the one hand by pursuing unity of jurisdiction through the creation of the Family Court and on the other by making greater use of ADR (Alternative dispute resolution), i.e. alternative techniques to the judicial process for resolving the conflict.
Among the alternative techniques in the field of family law - together with family mediation, collaborative law, assisted negotiation - there is parental coordination.
Parental coordination intervenes in highly conflicting couples with minor children, when the couple's conflict is revealed: persistent, that is, it extends over time and blocks the evolution of the family unit; pervasive, with the couple unable to agree on anything, not even on ordinary management issues; intense, i.e. characterized by aggression and feelings of hatred and hostility.
The scientific literature on the subject has highlighted how the relationship between conflicting couples leads to a sort of mutual destruction of the spouses, which exposes minor children to great developmental risks because the parents, concentrated on their serious arguments, are no longer able to protect and look after them as they should.
For situations of this kind, in the Cartabia Reform in art. 473bis 26, the Judge has the right, upon mutual request of the parties, to appoint a professional with specific skills, capable of assisting the family unit in overcoming conflicts, in providing assistance for minors and in recovery or improvement. relationships between parents and children.
The parental coordinator is therefore a professional specifically trained in this method, who works with the parental couple and helps and supports them in choices regarding health, education, attendance of the non-placement parent and, in general, in the application of the provisions of the devices issued by the Judicial Authority.
The appointment of the parenting coordinator can take place either by the court or by appointment of the parties. The duration of the assignment, unless otherwise agreed, is 6 months renewable up to a maximum of 24.
What is the difference between parental coordination and family mediation?
With mediation, the parties, supported by professional figures who act in a neutral and impartial manner, face the failure of the marital relationship and are guided in the judgment of separation and/or divorce. The family mediator does not assume any decision-making authority and works with the couple to reach an agreement.
The parental coordinator, as mentioned, coordinates the particularly conflictual couple in their family affairs and in the execution of the agreements made for the custody of the children, with the aim of protecting the minor and preventing conflicts between the spouses from affecting the children.
From this brief summary it is clear that the judicial process is not able to resolve the conflict between the parties, a conflict which most of the time has a deep and difficult genesis to eradicate and which has a negative impact on the conduct of the process itself, lengthening it and by exacerbating it with questions about the judge can't do anything.
It would therefore be desirable that the innumerable aspects that parents in conflict insist on bringing to the judgment - without realizing that they will hardly be able to be evaluated there - are instead moved to other areas of resolution, which guarantee effective taking charge and, of consequence, the concrete resolution.