This guide is for parents. It contains helpful information about parenting after separation and divorce.

You can use this guide if you’re making a parenting arrangement under the Divorce Act. A parenting arrangement is a plan for the care of your children after you separate or divorce. This includes arrangements about where the children will live, where they will go to school, their religious education (if any), their participation in cultural activities, their medical care, their afterschool activities, and so on.

This guide may still be useful to you even if the Divorce Act doesn’t apply to your situation. The basic decisions that you have to make about parenting arrangements are similar whether you’re separating or divorcing. You may also find this guide helpful if a family member with children is separating or divorcing
(for example, if you are a grandparent).

This guide provides information on:

• how to decide on the best parenting arrangements for your children
• what processes you can use to come to a parenting arrangement
• what you may be feeling as a parent
• what your children may be feeling