What is Parental Responsibility and How Does it Affect Decision making in the Parenting Plan

1. What is Parental Responsibility and How Does it Affect Decision making in the Parenting Plan? Before looking at how much decision making is included in the parenting plan, here is the definition of parental responsibility as noted in USLEGAL.com, “Parental responsibility refers to a set of rights and privileges that children have with their parents and with those adults who have a significant role in the child’s life as the basis of their relationship. Usually, parental responsibility includes both “parenting time” and decision-making responsibilities.” In most states, including Florida, the practice of one parent having sole or primary custody and the other parent secondary custody with visitation rights has been changed to the practice of parental timesharing with a parenting plan attached. The parenting plan will designate the responsibilities of each parent. (a side note: there are still cases where one parent or caregiver is awarded sole custody. The reasons for such an award include if one or both parents are incarcerated, have been convicted of child abuse or domestic violence, or are mentally or physically unfit to care for a minor child.) Parental timesharing refers to how, when, and where a minor child (that is, a child from birth through age 18 and beyond if for physical or mental reasons a child cannot support themselves.) is cared for. The word “sharing” denotes that the minor child will spend equal days and overnights with each parent. Along with the timesharing schedule, each couple must create, sometimes with a judge’s help, a plan outlining parental responsibility. In other words, the parenting plan will order a variety of directions to ensure each parent has their share of the care and nurturing of their child. A parenting plan may include: All major decisions involving a child’s education, religion, discipline, and medical issues will be discussed and decided by both parents. For example, small day-to-day issues such as a skinned knee can be made by whichever parent has the child on the day of the incident. Deciding which school, doctor, or religious institution a child will attend must be a joint parental decision. What accommodations will be made in the timesharing schedule regarding birthdays, special holidays, and summer vacations? How will the child be transferred from one parent to the other? Who is allowed to care for the child if neither parent can, especially in an emergency? What means of communication will be used between parents and between parent and child? In other words, will it be phone, text, or email, or maybe a combination of all three? How will the cost of extracurricular activities be divided? Is the parent allowed to take the child out of the area for a vacation or visit grandparents? If so, what are the guidelines to let this happen?

2. How will medical insurance and life insurance be set up, and who pays for what? If there are co-pays, who pays for them? In each case, there will be special circumstances and needed guidelines to be considered. Hopefully, the couple will be able to agree during mediation, but if not, a judge will oversee the drawing up of the parenting plan. The care and nurturing of children is a very important part of a child’s life, and Family Courts work hard to see the decisions made are in the best interest of the child. In fact, in Florida, “in the best interest of the child” is their Family Court’s motto.