Sarpy Mediation & Family Services Center’s

Online Parenting Class

Provided by Nebraskans who truly care about you and your children!

• Online Parenting Class
• Basic Parent Education Class
• Who Should Take This Class

• Welcome to Nebraska Parenting Class!  This class is for those of you who are going through a court case involving:

  1) an original custody order for children (typically divorce, legal separation, or paternity/custody) or

  2) a modification of an existing order that was either:

  a) ordered before January 1, 2008, or

  b) a modification of an existing order from another state that did not require a  parenting

  class.

  Please check with your attorney or the court to make sure you are taking the right class.

  Our classes have been approved by the Nebraska Supreme Court’s Administrative Office of the Courts and Probation. Sarpy Mediation & Family Services d/b/a Shaul Mediation & Family Services has been approved as a provider of Parent Education classes that satisfy court-ordered Parenting Class requirements for the entire state of Nebraska.

• This class is designed to educate the parents about the impact of the pending court action upon the child and will teach the parent’s appropriate application of parenting functions.

  BUT I’VE BEEN PARENTING FOR 10 YEARS! WHY DO I NEED TO TAKE A “PARENTING CLASS”?

  The class is partly education about divorce dynamics, and partly to prepare you for working through and creating your Parenting Plan which will be included as part of your court action. It is preferable that you attended class prior to working out your plan. This class covers the following information:

  1. Learn about the potential impact of the court action upon a child
  2. Identify the appropriate ways to address parenting functions
  3. Identify the developmental stages of children
  4. Learn about the ways to support the child’s adjustment to parental separation
  5. Identify the elements of Nebraska’s Parenting Plan and how to develop the Plan
  6. Learn about alternative dispute resolution; conflict management; stress reduction; appropriate language usage and positive communication;
  7. Identify safety provisions for safety and transition plans under the Nebraska Parenting Act
  8. Identify attributes of child abuse, neglect, domestic intimate partner abuse and unresolved parental conflict and how they impact members of the family.
  9. Identify parenting  through separation resources and references for those wanting to get more information from websites and books
• If you are a party to an original action for dissolution with children or a paternity action involving custody or parenting time with children (i.e. there is NO court-ordered parenting plan governing the children), the state of Nebraska requires your attendance at a Basic Parent Education class, preferably within 60 days following the filing of your action.

  Nebraska Parenting Act:   Parenting Class Requirement

   43-2924. Applicability of act.

  (1) The Parenting Act shall apply to proceedings or modifications filed on or after January 1, 2008, in which parenting functions for a child are at issue (a) under Chapter 42, including, but not limited to, proceedings or modification of orders for dissolution of marriage and child custody and (b) under sections 43-1401 to 43-1418. The Parenting Act may apply to proceedings or modifications in which parenting functions for a child are at issue under Chapter 30 or 43.

  43-2928. Attendance at basic level parenting education course; delay or waiver;

  (1) The court shall order all parties to a proceeding under the Parenting Act to attend a basic level parenting education course. Participation in the course may be delayed or waived by the court for good cause shown. Failure or refusal by any party to participate in such a course as ordered by the court shall not delay the entry of a final judgment or an order modifying a final judgment in such action by more than six months and shall in no case be punished by incarceration.