The goal of the International Center for Coparenting Policy and Research (ICOPAR) is to advance the understanding of and support for the core foundation of child and family well-being: Cooperative support and coordination among parents and caregivers. 

In the scientific literature, we call this “coparenting”; with laypersons, we often use terms such as “team parenting” or “collaborative parenting”.

Anthropologist Sarah Blaffer Hrdy (2011) theorizes that joint caregiving among early hominids is what made us “human”, because joint parenting led to the development of capacities for close, cooperative communication and problem-solving.   

Cooperative coparenting — regardless of family structure or biological relatedness – continues to be foundational for the survival and well-being of individuals, families, and societies. Positive coparenting grounds parental confidence, allows for natural parental sensitivity and nurturing to flourish, and promotes the development of children’s emotional, physical, and social health across the lifespan.

ICOPAR is the first international organization to take seriously the recognition of collaborative parenting as fundamental to children’s, parents’, and societal well-being.

Our goal is to establish an infrastructure for researchers and policymakers to advance research, innovate policy, and adapt and share strategies across borders and cultures.

Ultimately, we aim to increase support for families’ own efforts, based on their own values and local context, to enhance and sustain cooperative coparenting to meet the needs of their children.

We are just getting started. Join us.

Mark Feinberg, Ph.D.
Director, ICOPAR
The Pennsylvania State University