Raising a child with special needs is challenging. But, what many people do not know is that it can be one of the most rewarding experiences of your life. Parents of special needs children, just like other families, sometimes decide to go their separate ways. When there are separate households, the determination of which parent will provide for the special needs child will be decided by the child custody arrangement.
Child custody arrangements detail everything from where the child will primarily live, how their financial needs will be taken care of and how all other types of decisions that will affect their lives in the short and long-term will be decided. This process can seem daunting for parents of non-special needs children, but can it also work for children with special needs? The answer is yes. Child custody arrangements are tailor-made to that child and their parents, so the process can and will work well for a child who is considered special needs.
At Claudette-Jean Girard Attorney at Law, we take child custody arrangements seriously. The quality of a child custody arrangement can have a huge impact on the health and well-being of a child living with separated parents. For special needs children, the details of the child custody arrangement are based on the childs best interests, just as with children who are not special needs. It may be in your child’s best interests to have a primary caretaker and physical residence, due to the stability some special needs children need. This would be called primary custody.
Primary custody gives a parent much of the control over the day-to-day activities and long-term planning for the child. As the primary caregiver, you will bear the brunt of the child-rearing duties. If a shared custody arrangement is more agreeable, this can also be arranged. These decisions come down to many factors, most of all, the children’s best interests.