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Legal Information: Maine

Custody

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Updated: 
November 28, 2023

Can a parent who has been violent get parental rights and responsibilities or visitation?

When making a decision on parental rights and responsibilities, the judge must consider any history of domestic violence or child abuse. The judge must also consider how the domestic violence affects the child emotionally and how it affects the child’s safety.1

However, a judge can let the child’s primary residence be with the abusive parent or let the abusive parent have visitation if safety measures for the child and abused parent are put in place.2 Examples of these safety measures include:

  • requiring that the visits be supervised by a counselor, agency, or other responsible adult, with the abusive parent paying any fee;
  • ordering that the exchange of the child take place in a protected location, supervised by a responsible adult;
  • no overnight visits;
  • ordering the abusive parent to go to counseling;
  • ordering the abusive parent to not use alcohol or drugs during the visit and for 24 hours before the visit; and
  • anything else that would protect the child and abused parent.3

The law is similar for a parent convicted of a child-related sexual offense, as defined by law in section (6-A)(A). The judge can only place the child with that parent or allow contact if the there are safety precautions in place. For certain sex offenses, though, the judge has to assume that no contact with that parent is in the child’s best interests but the parent can try to change the judge’s mind.Note: If you are worried about your child’s safety because the other parent has committed a child-related sexual offense or had or shared (disseminated) sexually explicit material, you could ask the judge to order a “forensic risk assessment,” which is performed by a licensed clinical social worker, psychologist, or psychiatrist. As part of this assessment, the forensic evaluator could interview both parents and have access to court documents, records of any interview with the child, and other relevant documents.5

1 M.R.S. 19-A § 1653(3)(L), (3)(M)
2 M.R.S. 19-A § 1653(6)(A)
3 M.R.S. 19-A § 1653(6)(B)
4 M.R.S. 19-A § 1653(6-A)(A), (6-A)(B), (6-A)(C), (6-B)
5 M.R.S. 19-A § 1653(6-C)