Working together to raise children is a challenge for co-parents. They rely on the structure of a formal arrangement to ensure the protection of parental rights and a focus on the best interests of the children.
Parents who need to share their parental rights and responsibilities often try to negotiate their own parenting plans. Instead of relying on a judge to allocate parenting time and decision-making authority, the parents set those terms for themselves. By doing so, they take control of the process and prioritize solutions that actually work for the family.
The terms of a parenting plan can include many details that the parents believe are necessary for effective co-parenting. Issues beyond just parenting schedules can easily become sources of conflict in the future, which is why parents may want to create relatively robust parenting plans. If there is a significant distance between the parents or a highly uneven split of parenting time, then virtual visitation might be an issue to address in advance.
Why is virtual visitation helpful?
Technology can help bridge the gap that develops when people with close family bonds cannot see each other every day anymore. The more time children spend with each parent, the stronger their bond is with both of those adults. When they can’t be physically present with both parents, communicating regularly is helpful.
Terms for virtual visitation typically allow for video calls at specific scheduled times. Virtual visitation is a standard inclusion in many military family parenting plans. Seeing the children virtually can also be helpful for parents who often travel for work or who have to move out of the area.
By integrating arrangements for virtual visitation into the parenting plan, parents can prevent conflict about telecommunications while simultaneously ensuring that both adults have the opportunity to regularly bond with their children. Phone calls, emails and even cooperative online gaming may also be important to integrate into a parenting plan.
Discussions about issues that could affect family relationships or cause parental conflicts can help set people up for co-parenting success when they begin living separately. Expanding parenting negotiations to cover a variety of different family concerns can help lead to a more stable shared custody arrangement.
