Defining Coparenting for Social Work Practice: A Critical Interpretive Synthesis

Coparenting, referred to as an enterprise undertaken by two or more adults working together to raise a child for whom they share responsibility, is responsive to intervention, associated with multiple indicators of individual and family well-being, and applicable to diverse family structures. Because of a lack of conceptual clarity, however, and absence from social work publications, coparenting has not yet entered the purview of social work. In this review, the authors attempt to synthesize existing coparenting definitions into one that is conceptually clear and clinically useful for social work practice with families. Implications for social work practice and research are discussed.