Children’s Rights Council Cooperative Parenting and Divorce Program

Marc Rovner of East Rockaway, New York, has served as the senior staff attorney and the director of business development at BETA Abstract, LLC, since 1998. In addition to his responsibilities with the multimillion-dollar title insurance company, attorney Marc Rovner is a longtime member of the Children’s Rights Council (CRC) and was named CRC Man of the Year in 2004.

The CRC advocates for increased use of joint-custody parenting when possible to ensure that children have two actively engaged parents. In addition, divorced parents should make the child’s post-divorce adjustment easier by offering conflict-reduction programs, such as Cooperative Parenting and Divorce. This program highlights risk factors that influence the child’s ability to cope with and adjust to divorce.

In the program, parents are asked to complete an assessment to determine their level of conflict, after which they participate in group sessions to help mitigate this conflict in their transition from partners to co-parents. The eight-week program benefits parents by teaching them effective conflict-resolution skills and shifting the focus from past marital issues to child development issues. In turn, children benefit from reduced stress levels and a more relaxed home environment.