TexasParentClass.com is an online parenting class for divorcing parents in Texas. The author of our parenting class textbook, Chuck Chapman, earned his Master’s Degree in Marriage and Family Therapy from Southern Christian University in 2005. Since then, he’s practiced as a therapist in Ohio and Kentucky and is awaiting licensure in the State of Indiana. Before moving to Indiana, he practiced as a therapist with Mental Health and Recovery Centers of Warren County, Warren County Department of Children and Family Services, MidWestern Children's Home, Withamsville Church of Christ, and the Relationship Center of Northern Kentucky. For the past two years he has served as a pastoral family counselor for the Green Valley Church of Christ in Noblesville, Indiana. He also counsels privately through The Well Counseling and Consulting Group in Indianapolis. He has taught parenting classes in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana.
As a former educator, Chuck was drawn to this field when he saw that the effects of broken families impacted his students far more than their socio-economic status. Since earning his degree, Chuck has worked in private practice and as an in-home family counselor with families who are separating or are going through a divorce.
Chuck himself is the product of a home that had an absentee birth father and a step-father who was emotionally distant. His own battles overcoming these childhood issues made him all the more interested in helping families maintain healthy structures no matter their marital status.
Divorce impacted Chuck’s life when his first wife left him after five years of marriage. They had no children, so avoided having to deal with those issues. But Chuck experienced first hand the trauma of what divorce can do to an individual and their family relationships.
Chuck resides in Noblesville, Indiana with his wife of 18 years, Alysa, and their two children, Bryson and Olivia.
My Texas parenting class is a convenient, enjoyable text-based class. You will be able to complete the class in 4 hours. By Texas law, a Parent Education and Family Stabilization Course must be 4 hours long. However, you may complete my online class in blocks of 20-30 minutes in your own home as your schedule allows.
You will learn the following during the parenting class:
- Divorce is the loss of the current family structure.
- The continuing parental role despite the loss of the current family structure.
- Processes experienced by adults and children working through loss.
- The positive impact on children of a continuing relationship with both parents.
- Types of support that children need from both parents.
- The developmental stages of childhood.
- How divorce may impact childhood development.
- What parents can do to minimize the impact of the divorce on the children.
- When to seek additional help for children.
- How to discuss divorce-related issues with children based on their developmental stage.
- The negative impact on children of a parent expressing anger toward the other parent.
- The benefits of keeping the children out of the parental conflict.
- How to establish a relationship with the other parent that minimizes the children's exposure to parental conflict.
- The power and control dynamics of domestic violence.
- The state-wide toll-free domestic violence hotline telephone number.
- How to recognize child abuse and neglect.
- The benefits to children of maintaining a stable, consistent relationship with both parents.
- How to develop a parenting plan.
- How to effectively communicate with the other parent about parenting time.
- Books about divorce and separation that may help parents and children cope.
- Links to resources in your community.