Tips for Managing the Shared Care of Children During the Covid-19 Lockdown Period – Part 1
Based on our experience of working with thousands of families over many years we have put together a few tips that we hope help you better understand what options are available to resolve care and contact issues and how you might best support each other to keep our children safe and well during these challenging times
You can be confident that it is our intention to continue to support separated parents and help them to find the best parts of themselves so that together they can make the best decisions for the care and wellbeing of their children.
These are challenging times
While we each love our children enormously, we will all likely acknowledge that school holiday times can be challenging, especially during winter. Certainly, by the middle of the second week, any rules around screen time will likely become much more flexible than normal and the willingness to withdraw screen time privileges much less strict because …then what would they do? So our hearts go out to all parents caring for children during the COVID-19 lock-down period. No schools, no childcare, no grandparents, no going out to parks and playgrounds with other children, no visits to movies or friends’ houses… And of course, if you are separated parents, the whole situation might just feel overwhelming at times. What are you even allowed to do in this situation?The official position
Last week the Principal Family Court Judge, Jacquelyn Moran, issued a statement offering guidance to parents or caregivers who share custody. The key points she made (which we whole-heartedly endorse) were:- Parents must put aside their conflict at this time and make decisions that are in the best interests of the children and their families, as well as the wider community.
- This global pandemic should not be seen as an opportunity for parents to unilaterally change established care arrangements without cause or otherwise behave in a manner inconsistent with the child’s best interests or the court ordered care arrangements.
- Generally, children in the same communities can continue to go between their homes, unless:
- it is more than one hour’s drive (one way) between homes
- the child is unwell. In this case the child should not travel between homes until they are well;
- someone in either home is unwell; or
- someone involved (ie, the child or people in the home they have been in or will go to) has been:
- overseas in the last 14 days;
- in close contact with someone who is currently being tested for COVID-19; or
- in close contact with someone who has the virus or is being tested.
- Parents and caregivers should discuss if shared custody arrangements would allow COVID-19 to potentially spread without them being aware and reach an agreement. This may mean the child may need to stay with one parent/caregiver for the initial 4 week period.
- If children are moving between parents/caregivers in the same town or community:
- children should be accompanied by an adult when moving between homes;
- private vehicles should be used, wherever possible – public transport can be used where there are no alternatives; and
- the overriding consideration is for parents to make decisions that are in the best interest of their children.
- where there is a shared care arrangement and the families are in different towns or communities the safety of the children and others in their family units should not be compromised by movement between those homes, particularly if there are more than two homes involved.
- where children cannot move between homes, the Court would expect indirect contact – such as by phone or social media messaging to be generous.
