Custody of a special-needs child: Things to know

Child custody cases are complicated no matter what your circumstances are and no matter what your children are. Children of different age groups and events each have challenges that you and your co-parent must confront within the context of your custody case. In custody case does not just deal with visitation, possession, child support, or any of those issues. Instead, a custody case gets into complex issues surrounding all those topics and more. Couple the emotional difficulties associated with addressing these problems because you are going through complex personal matters yourself and have a potentially explosive situation. Those of you reading this podcast who has ever gone through a family law case know what I'm talking about.

If you are going through a child custody case involving a special needs child, that will likely be the circumstance you are most concerned with for your case's duration. While parenting a special needs child can be challenging, many rewarding aspects are not necessarily available to parents who are not responsible for a special needs child's care. Your unique circumstances as a special needs parent will cause you to look at your case differently than most other parents.

All children are impacted by the decisions made in connection with the divorce. Keep in mind that as much as you keep your children involved in the case and up to date on what is happening here, kids cannot possibly have the same level of understanding about your custody matters as you would as an adult. The same goes twice as much for special needs children. Depending on what impairment or disability your child is suffering from, they may not be able to emotionally or intellectually grasp your case's issues on any level whatsoever.

The first challenge that I would like to bring to your attention regarding child custody and special needs children is how to plan for meaningful Visitation periods for both parents after a custody case and period it can be challenging enough as it is to transition a family into my living in separate households and to share custody. However, that transition may be even more difficult for your family, given That you have a special needs child.

The second issue that I would like to discuss in some detail today is How you and your co-parent will divide custody rights about your special needs child. Custody rights are a sometimes overlooked aspect of a child custody case, believe it or not. These issues are often overlooked because many people focus only on the time aspects of a child custody case and spend relatively little time on the conservatorship rights and duties. Making decisions on behalf of your particular needs child regarding their life's medical and educational aspects is significant.

Transitioning your special needs child into a visitation and possession plan

Every family that goes through a family law case will need to do their best to help them adjust to life after the conclusion of their case. This means that living in a household separate from one of your parents is probably the most significant transition child of any age will have to make. No longer is it the case that the child will be able to spend time with both of their parents at the same time or see the parent virtually whenever everyone is at home. This change to the stability and consistency in the family relationship can be pretty tricky.

These consequences are made even more complicated when a special needs child is involved. Being able to process and regulate feelings of negativity and sadness is a part of growing up. We can all think back to times when we either did or did not handle and control these feelings and what consequences our actions had on our lives as a result. Regulating emotion Isn't an even more challenging task for parents like yourself who have special needs children. Often, though not always, special needs children Have acute difficulty with managing their emotions. There is perhaps no more emotional time in a child's life than in the immediate aftermath of a family law case.

Hopefully, you and your co-parent could work together to create a consistent parenting plan in terms of how frequently your child could see each parent but was also flexible in allowing the child to spend more time with one parent during different times throughout the year. For example, if the special needs child we're having difficulty with parting from one parent over a particular weekend, you and your co-parent could agree to allow that child an extra night with them. This may make all the difference in the world and build trust with your child during this post-family law case period.

You do not want a family court order that is so flexible or imprecise that it allows one parent to take advantage of the other. Ultimately, a court order needs to be flexible enough to enable parents to work together to create circumstances that benefit their children while also being enforceable in the event of a violation by either parent. This is a tricky balancing act to achieve, but it can be done with a family law attorney's experienced hand guiding you.

For instance, I have seen parents struggle with a child's situation, not visiting the non-primary conservator parent. This is the parent who has every other weekend Visitation and typically does the picking up and dropping off each weekend. When your special needs child does not want to come out and see you for the weekend visitation are Friday, this can create a great deal of heartache for the parent and difficulty when it comes to building a relationship with that child.

What you want to happen Is to have an order in place that clarifies when a parent can be held responsible for the child's failure to come for weekend visitation and when the needs of that special needs child take precedence over a single weekend of visitation. The more specific in order can be when these missed visitation periods can be excused and how makeup days of visitation will be determined in the future would go a long way towards determining how successful your court order post-divorce life will be.

How will you and your co-parent divide conservatorships rights between the two of you?

The other important aspect of this discussion is determining how you and your co-parent will divide the conservator rights and duties associated with your special needs child. For this blog post section, I will assume that your child requires more frequent than regular intervention by psychologists, doctors, or other professionals. Also, I will think that your child has educational needs that most children do not have. As a result, your family court orders need to be very clear about who can make decisions on behalf of your child and what contexts shared decision-making is necessary.

You and your co-parent may have very different ideas about raising them best when it comes to your child's areas. These disagreements may have been the key reasons why you and your spouse got divorced in the first place. As such, it should come as no surprise to you that you all may have some problems and disagreements when it comes to dividing up parental rights and duties and how to work together as a team to raise your child in a divided household. Therefore, you should express your concerns with your attorney and allow them to help you negotiate for orders that consider your family's shortcomings.

The bottom line is that you and your co-parent will likely share many rights and duties about your child. While there are some rights and responsibilities held independently of the other parent or even exclusively on your own, there are still many more that require you and your co-parent to talk about together and reach agreements as a team. The critical thing is to negotiate strongly with them during the case on those issues that you believe are most important for your child. Suppose you end up having to share responsibility in a particular subject. In that case, you should work to have appointed a third-party decision-maker who can play tiebreaker if you and your coherent disagree in the future.

What are some other factors which are essential in a special needs child custody case?

Like any child custody case, the involvement of you and your Co-parent will be looked at in a special needs child custody case. If you have always taken a back seat to your spouse in a very rare and are involved in the day-to-day responsibilities associated with raising your special needs child, then that is something that will come up early and often in your case. As such, a judge would be less likely to award you a prominent role in decision-making for your child.

Instead, some of the decisions regarding your child's best interest in the future will likely become vested in your parent exclusively while you share rights and duties with them in most other regards. What I'm telling you is the time to become involved in your child's life is not in a week or two before your custody or divorce case. It would help if you were a constant force for stability and consistency in your child's life in the years leading up to your family law case.

Should your case make it to a judge, then I think the judge would also be concerned with viewing both you and your co-parent's methods for handling adverse situations and how you worked together as a team, if at all, to resolve those problems. Remember that a family law case involving custody of a special needs child primarily focuses on that child's proven needs and doing what is in their best interests. While, at times, it may seem like it is a competition between you and your co-parent, the reality of the situation is that your child's needs are the most critical factor in the case.

While you may be a diligent parent who is always there for your child, if it is also shown that you have not worked well with your co-parent in trying to problem-solve their complex subjects and display an unwillingness to change that in the future, you will likely be given less say so in the day to take care of your child. On the other hand, if you have always shown a willingness to work with your co-parent no matter what difficulties you are presented with, that is a mark in your favor and can lead to more control over the day-to-day decision-making for your child.

Questions about the material presented in today's blog post? contact the Law Office of Bryan Fagan

If you have any questions about the material presented in today's blog post, please do not hesitate to contact the Law Office of Bryan Fagan. Our licensed family law attorneys offer free of charge consultations six days a week in our office, over the phone, and via video. These consultations are a great way to learn more about our law practice and our client's services. It is an honor to serve our community and work with families just like you from around Southeast Texas. I appreciate your interest in our law office, so we hope you will join us tomorrow in our blog as we continue to share information regarding Texas family law.

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Law Office of Bryan Fagan, PLLC | Houston, Texas Child Custody Lawyers

The Law Office of Bryan Fagan, PLLC, routinely handles matters that affect children and families. If you have questions regarding child custody, it's essential to speak with one of our Houston , TX, child custody lawyers right away to protect your rights.

Our child custody lawyers in Houston, TX, are skilled at listening to your goals during this trying process and developing a strategy to meet those goals. Contact the Law Office of Bryan Fagan, PLLC by calling (281) 810-9760 or submit your contact information in our online form. The Law Office of Bryan Fagan, PLLC, handles child custody cases in Houston, Texas, Cypress, Klein, Humble, Kingwood, Tomball, The Woodlands, Houston, the FM 1960 area, or surrounding areas, including Harris County, Montgomery County, Liberty County, Chambers County, Galveston County, Brazoria County, Fort Bend County, and Waller County.