Clinical Use of McHale 's Coparenting Scale: Case Examples and Insights for Practitioners From an International Coparenting Collaborative

An important accomplishment in systemic consultations and interventions is helping the family's coparents—individuals mutually responsible for the child's care and upbringing—to become more mindful about ways they can ally together to support their children. One means of stimulating coparenting dialogues is to guide intentional reflection on coparenting‐related actions related to engagement, teamwork, conflict and child focus. One instrument designed to evoke such reflection, the Coparenting Scale, is effective in triggering parent insights and dialogues about coparenting behaviours and dynamics if used intentionally by therapists. The instrument is uniquely designed to provide visuals for parents (stick figure cartoons) portraying two adults and a child in everyday activities connoting signs of affection and togetherness, handling discipline in the family, differences of opinion with the coparent and actions engaged in when alone with the child which affect the solidarity of the coparenting alliance (covert coparenting). Reflection on these items builds insight into behaviour not always consciously in mind, and dynamics not typically discussed openly or effectively with their coparent. Primed to enable such conversation, while resolute about the meaning of coparenting behaviour for children's family‐level security, practitioners can help coparents strengthen determination to mindfully engage in behavioural changes to promote greater family integrity at home through teamwork and to reduce child‐related conflict. Cases from Italy, Sweden, the United States and Israel illustrate implementation variations and impact.