Is Virtual Visitation Right for Your Family?

 Posted on January 26, 2023 in Family Law

If you and your child’s other parent are going your separate ways but will both remain active parents to your child, it is time to construct a parenting time schedule and a parenting time plan. These parenting time resources will help you to clarify when your child will spend time with each of you, how you will address certain co-parenting responsibilities, and how you will both remain connected to your child when they are not residing with you.

Remaining connected and invested in each other’s lives is important, no matter how often your child resides with each parent. In the Digital Age, many co-parents are finding that including so-called “virtual visitation” provisions in their parenting time plans can help to facilitate consistent communication and connection.

What Is Virtual Visitation? 

Virtual visitation can be accomplished by engaging in any form of electronic communication that is developmentally appropriate for your child. You can talk on the phone, send emails, text, play video game apps as “friends,” utilize a video call app, or even record stories that your co-parent can play when your child is falling asleep.

Serving Your Child’s Best Interests

If you do choose to include virtual visitation terms within your parenting time plan, make sure to construct them with your child’s best interests in mind. For example, if having a nightly call with whichever parent is not present will interfere too much with their schoolwork and extracurricular obligations, consider calls for the weekends and emails during the week.

Or, if your child is young and does not have a significant attention span, consider using a kid-friendly video call app like Caribu instead of Facetime so that there are fun activities available for you to do together at the push of a button.

However you choose to construct your virtual visitation, keep your child’s needs at the forefront of your mind and phrase the terms of your virtual visitation in such a way that they can be modified to some extent as your child grows.

Contact an Oakland County Divorce Lawyer for Personalized Guidance

Allow the compassionate team of Farmington Hills child custody lawyers at Elkouri Heath, PLC to help you navigate any child custody or parenting time challenges that you may currently be facing. From virtual visitation concerns to child support questions, we are ready to be of assistance. You can schedule a confidential, risk-free consultation at no cost by submitting a contact form on our website or by calling us at 248-344-9700. We look forward to learning more about your family’s needs at this time.   

Source:

https://www.courts.michigan.gov/49422a/siteassets/court-administration/standardsguidelines/foc/pt_gdlns.pdf