Impacts on Child Custody Arrangements – Children’s Health

At Smart Legal Family Lawyers, we see every day, parents trying to arrange custody agreements with many wanting to share custody.  But what happens when your child has a medical condition? Could you potentially lose out when it comes to custody?

In many families there is a primary carer role already established.  This person has attended every doctor appointment, every specialist appointment.  They have researched the condition and looked at options when it comes to diets, home care and occupational therapies.  They have established relationships with doctors and teachers and generally run the show and relay the information to the other parent who may in turn be the primary bread winner.

In a divorce that leaves one parent generally lacking on the information front when it comes to knowledge around their child’s condition and care, which can be a cause for concern if the condition is down played in order to try and negotiate a shared agreement.

So, what can you do?

Here at Smart Legal Family Lawyers, our experience has shown that the court does prefer the child to be placed with a parent who can demonstrate their ability to manage the condition and treatment and it does not take kindly to parents who downplay or diminish the severity of health related issues.

Should you be the parent who does not have the intimate knowledge about your child’s health concerns that your ex-partner does, then it is important to follow our top tips to ensure you have an active input and presence in your child’s life.

• Don’t down play any part of your child’s health related issues.  No matter how you feel your ex may be stating the information around your child’s health concerns, the court will always take a very conservative approach in order to protect the child.  Downplaying any medical condition can be perceived as being ignorant or non-caring about the care and treatment of your young ones.
• Ensure you start to attend all relevant doctors and specialist appointments from now on.  Ask questions and show your interest and care in the treatment of your child.
• Do your own research.  Join support groups and educate yourself on the particular condition or challenges your child faces or will potentially face as they get older.
• Ensure you make amendments or any additions to your home that your child needs in order to make their life or learning easier.
• If you have outside help or support, try to engage the same people to ensure consistency.

And lastly and most importantly, remember this is about your child.  Their health, their care and their wellbeing is paramount to everything else that is going on.  Because of this, the best and most productive tip we can give you, is to have the best co-parenting relationship you can with your ex-partner.  

Remember!  If their primary focus is your child then you have something pretty amazing in common.  Work together.  What you don’t know about your child’s condition is not an indication of how much you care.  Life when you were together was run differently and today is a new day.  

You can do this!

If you are negotiating a child custody agreement with a child or children who have health issues, call our team today.  We will help support you through the process.