El Coordinador de Parentalidad: Un análisis de las resoluciones judiciales en España

A parenting coordinator (PC) is a professional who inter­venes in judicial contexts involving high conflict parental litigation in order to safeguard the child’s best interest, as well as dealing with issues concerning coparenting. This new role has been the object of specific directives from international professional associations such as the Asso­ciation of Family and Conciliation Courts (AFCC, 2006), and the American Psychological Association (APA, 2012), who have established guidelines for professional practice. The figure of the PC has been introduced only recently in Spain, with Catalonia being the first autono­mous communities to do so. Bearing these circumstances in mind, this study aims to assess the impact of this new figure on judicial judgements by examining both the legal reasoning, and the judges’ rationale guiding the professional practice of this figure. Judicial judgements from the CENDOJ database involving the figure of the Parenting coordinator were analysed. The results ob­tained shed light on the legal reasoning cited by judicial decision-makers in their judgements and the criteria em­ployed to justify this new figure and its correspondence with international guidelines. Judgements were found to be grounded on legal reasoning and the criteria was es­sentially in accordance with guidelines proposed by in­ternational associations. Nevertheless, legal decision-makers must further their understanding concerning the role of the CP in order to assist families with high con­flict parents to ensure positive coparenting.ResumenEl coordinador de parentalidad (CP) interviene en situaciones de judicialización de la relación entre los progenitores y de alto conflicto, abordando desde el interés superior de los menores, las cuestiones relativas a la coparentalidad. Este nuevo rol ha sido objeto de directrices específicas de las asociaciones profesionales internacionales, tales como Association of Family and Conciliation Court (AFCC, 2006) y la American Psychological Association (APA, 2012), en las que se establecen orientaciones para la práctica de este profesional. En España, su implantación es muy reciente, siendo iniciada en Cataluña y seguida por otras comunidades autónomas. Desde este contexto, nos planteamos un estudio para conocer cómo se ha concretado esta nueva figura en las resoluciones judiciales, atendiendo por una parte a la motivación legal y, por otra, a la motivación de la práctica que los jueces atribuyen a esta figura. Se llevó a cabo un análisis de contenido de las resoluciones judiciales que incluían la figura de Coordinación de Parentalidad en la base de datos CENDOJ. Los resultados obtenidos permiten conocer los detalles legales que los decisores judiciales incluyen en sus resoluciones, así como los criterios que emplean para motivar esta figura y su correspondencia con las directrices internacionales. Se concluye que las sentencias se dotan de motivación legal, y que los criterios se corresponden, en lo esencial, con las directrices editadas por las asociaciones internacionales, aunque sería preciso mejorar el conocimiento de los operadores jurídicos acerca de las posibilidades que ofrece la CP, para ayudar a las familias con separaciones conflictivas de los progenitores a ejercer una coparentalidad positivaAbstractA parenting coordinator (PC) is a professional who inter­venes in judicial contexts involving high conflict parental litigation in order to safeguard the child’s best interest, as well as dealing with issues concerning coparenting. This new role has been the object of specific directives from international professional associations such as the Asso­ciation of Family and Conciliation Courts (AFCC, 2006), and the American Psychological Association (APA, 2012), who have established guidelines for professional practice. The figure of the PC has been introduced only recently in Spain, with Catalonia being the first autono­mous communities to do so. Bearing these circumstances in mind, this study aims to assess the impact of this new figure on judicial judgements by examining both the legal reasoning, and the judges’ rationale guiding the professional practice of this figure. Judicial judgements from the CENDOJ database involving the figure of the Parenting coordinator were analysed. The results ob­tained shed light on the legal reasoning cited by judicial decision-makers in their judgements and the criteria em­ployed to justify this new figure and its correspondence with international guidelines. Judgements were found to be grounded on legal reasoning and the criteria was es­sentially in accordance with guidelines proposed by in­ternational associations. Nevertheless, legal decision-makers must further their understanding concerning the role of the CP in order to assist families with high con­flict parents to ensure positive coparenting