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Parenting Education

Rule 34 of the Rules of the Court requires all parents of minor children who are ending their marriages or legally separating to complete a court approved divorce seminar before parental rights will be allocated. This educational program focuses on improving parents' abilities to protect their children from poor outcomes that often follow divorce and to increase their communication skills for cooperating.

The Center for Divorce Education's online co-parenting program for divorcing and separating families, Children In Between, is the Court's only approved provider of the education. A court order is not necessary to take the course.

You can register for this class at https://www.divorce-education.com/oh/cuyahoga/.  

The class is also available in Spanish (El curso es accessible en Español) at https://online.divorce-education.com/es.

Each parent must register and complete the Children In Between course before the final hearing. Each parent will receive a 'Certificate of Completion' and must file the certificate with the Clerk of Courts two weeks before the final hearing.

Only parents who have completed the court approved education will be allocated rights and responsibilities (legal decision-making authority) or shared parenting. Parents who have not completed the court approved seminar will not be able to change an allocation of parental rights and responsibilities or shared parenting order and will not be able to enforce a parenting time schedule.