Posted on 4/4/2024

Protecting children from conflict during parental separation

Fondation Dora is supporting a pilot project by Geneva-based association ScopalE, www.scopale.ch, which aims to prevent conflict between separating parents, therefore protecting children from the harmful consequences of an acrimonious parental separation.

Conflict between separating parents can have a serious impact on the health and development of the children involved, while the current model of solving conflicts in the courts places a heavy burden on state and private bodies. Aware of the issue, a large group of interdisciplinary professionals from Geneva’s private sector came together in March 2020 to create ScopalE with the aim of acting at an early stage in a couple’s separation to stop conflict escalating.

ScopalE’s vision is to promote collaboration between separating parents and between professionals in the field in order to prevent conflict, avoid legal fights and better protect children. To do this, the association has devised a suite of new resources for the canton of Geneva. Innovative group workshop and interdisciplinary consultations for ex-couples aim to support separating parents to collaborate and find consensus instead of going through the courts, to view coparenting as the end goal, and to make their children’s welfare the priority. Meanwhile, training opportunities for professionals working in relevant fields, such as social workers, mediators, state workers, lawyers, jurists, therapists and searchers, are designed to foster an interdisciplinary, coherent and collaborative approach to the issue. 

Following a successful test period in which these resources were developed and standardised, a pilot project was launched in September 2023 and will run until June 2026. The three-year pilot intends to help 100 couples in the canton of Geneva negotiate their separations amicably, and train 500 professionals in the field. The pilot will allow ScopalE to evaluate the impact of the project, raise public awareness of its aims, strengthen links with state institutions, and network with similar initiatives in other cantons or countries.

ScopalE is part of the Réseau Enfants Geneva (REG), which works to promote parental cooperation in the case of separation or divorce.