The Use of Child-Centered Ecomaps to Describe Engagement, Teamwork, Conflict and Child Focus in Coparenting Networks
The International Coparenting Collaborative Approach
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 13081980 |
|---|---|
| Authors | James P Mchale (0000-0001-8006-3826, University of South Florida St. Petersburg, corresponding author), Silvia Mazzoni (0000-0001-6149-5850, Sapienza University of Rome), Martina Maria Mensi (0000-0002-9583-0554, University of Pavia), Russia Collins (University of South Florida St. Petersburg), Alice Busca (Foundation), Arianna Vecchio (0000-0002-1233-2841, Foundation), Marina Riso (University of Pavia) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 9 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 119-119 |
| Publication date | 2025-11-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Genealogy (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2313-5778 • E-ISSN: 2313-5778 |
| Publisher | MDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT) |
| DOI | 10.3390/genealogy9040119 |
| OpenAlex | W4415812851 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 32 |
When young children come to the attention of helping professionals because they are experiencing significant behavioral or emotional challenges, effective solutions frequently involve establishing whether there are strains or ruptures in the child’s coparenting network impeding functional communication about the child. Coparenting refers to the shared—and ideally, mutual—parenting efforts of adults working together to socialize, care for, and raise children for whom they share responsibility. Among the most important aims in understanding and strengthening the family’s coparenting alliance is evaluating who the various adults are comprising the functional coparenting network. As part of a coordinated effort to provide guidance in best practices for evaluating coparenting, an International Coparenting Collaborative (ICC) has highlighted the use of a pictoral mapping tool—a child-centered ecomap—as one effective means of assessing coparental engagement and learning more about existing levels of child-related teamwork and conflict. Completed ecomaps provided by multiple coparenting adults in the same family also provide an opening to highlight and explore child focus and to facilitate pivotal information sharing among the multiple caregivers. In this article, we examine the use of child-centered ecomaps in a variety of family-centered cases seen in four different collaborating sites and services partnering in the ICC. The cases highlight the unique value of an assessment tool that goes beyond simply illuminating the nature of the child’s coparenting system to afford the interventionist with a means of refocusing coparents’ attention on the perspective of the child. Closing reflections focus on the child-centered ecomap’s advantages, both as a method for learning more about coparenting in the family and for setting a stage for subsequent child-centered work with the family through more comprehensive and nuanced case conceptualization
Alliance · Child custody · Coparenting · Perspective (graphical · PsycINFO · Teamwork · Child Welfare and Adoption · Family Dynamics and Relationships · Parental Involvement in Education
Coparenting
Changing toddlers' and preschoolers' attachment classifications
Overt and Covert Coparenting Processes in the Family
Exploring the Therapeutic Effectiveness of Genograms in Family Therapy
The Family Caregiving Environment Associates with Adolescent Patients’ Severity of Eating Disorder and Interpersonal Problems
Assessing Family Functioning Before and After an Integrated Multidisciplinary Family Treatment for Adolescents With Restrictive Eating Disorders
The perspectives of young children in care about their circumstances and implications for social work practice
Systemic analysis of father‐mother‐baby interactions
Framing the work
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |