Websites and apps to support post-separation parenting
About Online Parenting Resources
Keeping track of schedules, maintaining polite conversation, organizing important information, and everything else in-between can be complicated to manage for any family. For parents going through separation and divorce, it can be even more challenging. Fortunately, there are now online parenting resources that can help.
Several websites and apps offer parents tools to help them communicate, stay organized, and access important information about their child or children right at their fingertips. Some also provide tools to track expenses, save important documents, keep a journal, and even give you access to an on-demand mediator. Subscription sites tend to have a more robust selection of features, but there are free options available that may suit your situation.
If you are interested in using one of these helpful tools, Peace Talks has provided the following list, so you can easily determine which may best suit your family’s needs.
Recommended Online Parenting Resources
Custody X Change https://www.custodyxchange.com/
Cost: Free version with limited features and packages that start at $17 per month / $97 per year
About: Custody X Change is software that creates parenting plans and schedules to help you keep track of your custody situation. It allows for parents, attorneys, mediators and judges to view the schedules, should they need to.
This is a nice, clean, simple, and easy-to-use site. Best of all, it’s free. I particularly love the rules and exceptions section, and the ability to outline joint household rules. I could also see kids getting involved with it. For instance, they can read for themselves that both parents agree that there are no “R” rated movies in either household.
Sharekids.com www.sharekids.com
Cost: 30-day free trial, and then this program costs $200 per year for a joint account, or $100 per year for an individual account. They also offer a lifetime fee structure which is $1000 for a joint account and $500 for an individual account.
About: Sharekids.com offers a shared calendar that provides different options and permissions for every member of your family. You can also store medical information, school information, and track expenses. There’s also a message center, photo gallery, personal diary, and a place where you can share the house rules to other family members on the site to ensure consistency in your children's lives.
Talking Parents www.talkingparents.com
Cost: Free with limited features. Subscriptions start at $5.99 per month.
About: Talking Parents is a communication service for co-parenting and shared custody.
Talking Parents offers a secure messaging portal that keeps records of all messages, events, and calls. They also have a feature called Accountable Calling that records calls without disclosing numbers. You can share documents and records. There’s also a shared calendar, a place to save pictures, and an information library that keeps all the details about your children in one place.
coParenter www.coParenter.com
Cost: Free 30-day trial, and then the cost is $12.99 per month or $119 for the year, which includes unlimited mediation.
About: coParenter is the first online dispute resolution platform. It helps separating, divorced, and never-married parents negotiate custom parenting plans, manage & organize responsibilities, document communication, and resolve coParenting conflict with on-demand mediation.
coParenter includes a shared calendar that syncs to both parents’ phones. It also has communication tools, a check-in feature for pick-ups and drop-offs, storage for your children's information, an expense module, document tracking, a journal, and the ability to create parenting plans with or without the help of a professional. Paid subscribers have access to an on-demand coParenting professional who can help parents mediate agreements without going to court.
Our Family Wizard www.ourfamilywizard.com
Cost: This program starts at $99.00 per year or about $8.65 per month. No free trial period.
About: Our Family Wizard has effective shared parenting tools that help parents manage their co-parenting responsibilities and eliminate the “he said/she said” once and for all. There's a communication tool that works like text and a message board, and even includes a ToneMeter, so communication can be kept positive between parents. There’s a shared calendar where you can also make requests to change parenting times. You can also keep a journal, track your expenses, and store important information about your children.
List compiled by:
- Keisha Chandler, Director of Operations; Peace Talks Mediation Services, Inc.; Copyright 2007
- Updated by Natalie Rosenblatt, Associate; Peace Talks Mediation Services, Inc. 2021