Here are some things you should know about how parents’ rights to their children are determined:
Who is considered a “Child”?
- A “child” is defined by the Women’s Charter as a child of the marriage whom is below 21 years of age
What do “Custody”, “Care and Control” and “Access” mean?
- Custody refers to a parent’s right to make important / key decisions over major aspects of the child’s upbringing and welfare, such as those affecting the following:
- Religion e.g. whether the child should be receive religious instruction, attend a place of worship or participate in religious activities / ceremonies
- Education e.g. whether the child should attend a particular school or enrichment class, whether the child should participate in a particular cocurricular or extracurricular activity
- Medical / health treatment e.g. whether the child should receive / undergo a particular type of medical treatment
- Care and Control refers a parent’s right to have authority and responsibility over the daytoday matters of the child (i.e. caring for and supervising the child on a daytoday basis)
- The child will reside with the parent who is awarded with Care and Control of the child
- Access refers to the periods during which the parent who does not have care and control of the child is granted time to spend with the child.
- Access refers to a parent’s right to have contact and physical access to the child
- This is granted to the parent who does not have Care and Control of the child to ensure that that parent has sufficiently regular contact and adequate opportunities to develop and maintain a good parentchild relationship with the child
- For example, a parent may be granted with daytime access to the child for a certain number days during the week and overnight access during the weekend