Children's Health
How Do We Quarantine with Shared Child Custody?
By
Jun 10, 2020 - 5:29:27 PM
(HealthNewsDigest.com) - When it comes to interpreting the given guidance about avoiding transmitting the coronavirus to unknown people and social distancing, the act of passing children back and forth between households and divorced parents is the exact counter to those guidelines.
The recently issued guidance for parents by the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers is meant to make divorced parents with shared child custody more compliant with custody agreements and court orders. COVID-19 raised an issue for shared child custody as parents had to deny parenting time, due to being under the lockdown.
On the other hand, the act is also meant to prevent parents from potentially taking advantage of a situation and failing to follow custody orders. However, this isn't going as planned as there are certain issues to take into consideration.
There are four big issues to take into consideration when it comes to shared child custody in quarantine, and we're going to mention them.
Supervised visitation
Supervised visitations are a huge potential risk. They involve a third party whose whereabouts are mostly unknown to neither parent. Since such visitation includes a high risk of spreading the virus, they should be immediately disconnected.
Instead, parents should rely on safer means with the least physical contact possible. In the case of a virus outbreak, telephone and video calls are the best solutions.
Essential workers and health care
Each state in the country has its own types of essential workers besides law enforcement employees and health care workers. These types include Costco, farm, and construction workers too.
Since the situation with the COVID 19 outbreak isn't coming to an end any time soon, it's expected that many people will become infected, which will create overtime opportunities and requirements.
These people should not suffer any penalties because of this. They shouldn't be required to pay more child support due to the crisis or having the status quo changed.
There will be many custody issues arising along the way, and overtime working parents should be permitted to facilitate calls and get other methods to stay in touch with their children and families.
Illness-exposed parents
Your children always come first, no matter what. This is a good rule of thumb, and parents with shared custody should follow it, regardless of their situation. Each divorce is painful and hard, there's no way around it.
That's just how things are. Regardless of how much parents don't get along, their children shouldn't suffer because of their disagreement. If one parent is feeling symptoms or has been exposed to the illness, it goes without saying that they should not see their children in person.
Instead, they can rely on other methods like telephone contact and video calling. Seeing your children in person after being illness-exposed is irresponsible and dangerous.
Since it's common for parents to develop even more problems when getting a divorce, check out this website if you need consultation and lawyer services to handle the divorce process.
Taking care of your family
The COVID19 pandemic has left the world in disarray. The retail sector went through a huge change, and people all over the world are facing bankruptcy due to being forced out of their jobs. In these times of peril, taking care of your family should be your top priority.
The crisis will probably continue to deepen, which will fall hard on divorced parents with shared child custody. This goes especially for those parents who are required to take care of ill family members.
They should receive support to aid them in their efforts instead of being punished for caring for their families. It's crucial that parents are fully aware of the additional risks inherent with exposure to both themselves and their children.
When it comes to 50-50 custody, it's paramount to be ready to compromise and avoid any further issues during the crisis.
Even though it's absolutely understandable that each parent is looking to spend as much time as they can with their children, it's more important to be responsible to each other during the outbreak.
The best way to make sure that your children are healthy and safe is by being committed 100% to social distancing, self-quarantine, isolation, and other pandemic countermeasures.
It's safe to share the child back and forth, but only if you're sure that both of you have been responsible. In case you discover that this is not the case, you have the right to speak to your attorney and take steps accordingly.