Custody & Kidnapping

It is very understandable that a parent would want to know what his/her child is doing and where his/her child will be during the child’s time with the other parent to make sure that the child is safe. However, if one parent is ordered to inform the other parent of where the child is at all times, then it may be possible that a judge would make this order go both ways so that each parent needs to inform the other of any time that the child is not at the parent’s home or in the hometown. Even for situations where one parent has physical custody and the other parent has court-ordered visitation, I don’t know if a judge would order that the custodial parent has to be told what the child is doing on the visits or if the custodial parent would get any “veto power” to reject the planned activities. Often times, courts are not going to give one parent the right to decide what the other parent does during his/her parenting time. However, I cannot speak to your specific situation or how your state/county usually deals with these sorts of issues. You may want to ask an attorney if it may be possible to structure a court order so that the other parent has to give you this information or get your approval to leave the state with the child if this is what you feel would be best for your child. You may want to ask an attorney if your state has any type of regulations or if there have been any other court cases in your state that deal with this issue.

If you think the other parent is not being safe with the child or that s/he is endangering him/her in some way, or that s/he won’t return him/her when s/he says s/he will, you may decide to consider the option of going through the court system to get a visitation schedule that will say exactly when the other parent has to be home with the child or that specifies exactly where the child can go for vacations or other trips out of state. [INCLUDE ONLY IF SHE DOESN’T HAVE A CURRENT COURT ORDER: However, as you may know, oftentimes once the courts are involved, the other parent may end up getting more visitation than s/he has or even joint custody if s/he asks for it - this is perhaps one reason why some people don’t always go through the court.] Here is a link for lawyers if you want an opinion from a lawyer in your state who may have more specific information on this that I do: LINK