Across the U.S., divorcing parents with minor children are often required to take “parenting classes” or “parenting education” when they file for divorce. This is an absolute requirement in 17 states, and in Maryland, it is required in certain Counties like Anne Arundel County.

Almost uniformly, both parents are required to take the classes, and the requirement is enforced by the Court’s Order. In some states, parenting classes are only required if the divorce is contested. The general purpose of such classes is to help parents understand how children are impacted by divorce generally and by other changes like custody and visitation arrangements.

Why are Parenting Classes Required?

There are several reasons why parenting classes are required. First, divorce can be traumatic for children, particularly when parents fight over custody and visitation. The theory is that trauma suffered by children is carried forward into the later stages of their lives, causing lasting negative societal impacts. Parenting classes are one effort to minimize those traumatic impacts on children by educating parents to be more accommodating during the divorce process and to be particularly careful when dealing with child custody issues.

There are also specific child-related concerns that parenting classes are supposed to help identify and correct. For example, studies have shown that, for children in school, there is often a dip in the child’s school performance when a divorce is filed and during the proceedings. This is not unexpected, given the uncertainties, emotions, and changes involved in a typical divorce. However, performance downturns are something that most would want to avoid, and parenting classes are one attempt to minimize these sorts of child-specific adverse impacts.

A second — and related — reason for parenting classes is that psychologists and social workers believe that parenting classes tend to make parents better parents. For such people, better parents are a “general good” unrelated to divorce and custody.

A third reason involves the court administration of divorce proceedings. When parents “fight to the end” about custody and visitation, divorce proceedings become extended and consume an unwarranted share of limited judicial resources. By ordering parenting classes, judges and court administrators believe that more parents will be more restrained in their efforts related to custody and visitation. This, in turn, is expected to reduce the length of divorce proceedings. Courts have also instituted other mechanisms — like court-ordered mediation — for the same purposes.

What are Parenting Classes Like?

As with most modern educational requirements, most parenting classes are online programs broken into short video segments. These are usually produced by private companies and cost from $25 to $100 or more, depending on the state. As for topics, see this topic list and breakdown from the Circuit Court of Anne Arundel County. The topics include:

• The Grief Process
• Adult Response To Grief
• The Grief Process – Children
• Helping Your Infant Adjust to Separation and Divorce
• Helping Your Toddler/Preschooler Adjust to Separation and Divorce
• Helping your Elementary School-Aged Child Adjust to Separation/Divorce
• Helping your Middle School Aged Child Adjust to Separation and Divorce
• Helping your Older Adolescent Adjust to Separation/Divorce
• The Court Process

Need Help With Your Divorce or Child Custody Case?

This article has been provided by the Law Office of Robert Castro. For more information or questions, contact our office to speak to an experienced Maryland family law and divorce lawyer at (301) 870-1200. We are Waldorf, MD, Family Law lawyers. Our address is 2670 Crain Highway, Waldorf, MD, 20601.