Common Ground is the operating system for raising children across households — one organised place where everyone involved in a child’s care keeps up with the things that matter.
Add your children and set up their Common Ground space.
Invite the people involved in their care by email — parents, guardians, grandparents, day-to-day caregivers or wider whānau.
Each person only receives access to the children and information appropriate to their role.
Use the shared calendar to keep track of care arrangements, handovers, appointments, school events, activities and other important dates.
Everyone with appropriate access can see the same current information without relying on separate calendars, messages or phone calls.
Keep the other caregiver up to date with everyday information about your children.
Share updates about health, school, sleep, activities and routines, or use the Tamariki Journal to summarise what’s happened during the day or week and add photos.
When something new is added, relevant caregivers can be notified by email so they don’t need to constantly check Common Ground.
Store relevant documents, expenses, appointments, updates and other information in one organised place.
Your child’s information develops into a clear history over time.
Important activity within Common Ground is attributable and timestamped.
Where records are updated, responded to or disputed, Common Ground can preserve the history rather than allowing one person’s account to silently replace another’s.
Common Ground records who recorded something and when. It does not determine whether a caregiver’s statement is true.
Common Ground isn’t limited to two parents.
Grandparents, guardians and other day-to-day caregivers can be given Full Caregiver Access when they have a significant role in caring for a child.
Other whānau members can have more limited access, allowing them to see appropriate updates and photos and share moments from their own time with the children — without accessing private caregiver records.
Where needed, authorised professionals can be given controlled access to relevant Common Ground information.
This can help mediators, counsellors, social workers and family lawyers understand the history of care without reconstructing it from disconnected messages and accounts.
Professional access is separate from ordinary whānau access and should only include information the professional is authorised to view.
Different children can have completely different care networks.
Access is managed individually for each child, so someone involved in the care of one child does not automatically gain access to information about another.
Common Ground began with a situation where ordinary co-parenting communication simply wasn’t possible.
Following a separation, Common Ground’s founder was navigating shared care while a protection order was in place. Direct communication between parents was restricted, but parenting didn’t stop. Schedules still needed coordinating. Medical information still needed sharing. Handovers still happened. Children’s lives continued across households.
Keeping reliable records was difficult too. Important conversations were scattered across messaging platforms, and messages could be deleted from chat threads. When information needed to be provided to a lawyer, reconstructing what had happened from screenshots, messages and separate records became stressful and time-consuming.
At the same time, her children were being cared for across other households, including by another parent and a grandparent. Being apart from them was incredibly difficult. She still wanted to know the ordinary things: How was kindergarten? What did they eat? Did they sleep well? What made them laugh today? She wanted updates and photos and a way to remain connected to their everyday lives without requiring direct conversation between adults.
There wasn’t one tool that solved all of those problems. So she built one.
Common Ground creates a calm, neutral space around the child. There is no direct messaging. Instead, caregivers can share updates, photos, schedules, handovers, medication information, expenses and other important details in one organised place. Information is attributable and timestamped, creating continuity without turning the platform into another messaging thread.
Different caregivers can be given different levels of access. A parent can participate in their child’s care, a grandparent with day-to-day responsibility can have the access they need, wider whānau can stay connected through appropriate updates and photos, and authorised professionals can be given access to relevant information when required.
What began as a solution to one family’s very complicated reality became something that could help many others.
Common Ground was created in Aotearoa for whānau navigating separation, shared care and changing family structures — including situations where communication between adults is difficult, restricted or simply not appropriate.
The result is one structured place for the people involved in a child’s care to stay informed, organised and connected.
All about the tamariki.
Common Ground is free for whānau — no subscription, no in-app payments.
Create your free account