The State of Texas – along with every state in the nation – takes the well-being of children very seriously. The Children’s Bill of Rights is a legal manifestation of this commitment, and it’s designed to help ensure that children of divorce – or children who split their time between the homes of both their parents – are treated in accordance with their rights.
The idea is that the adults who care for these children are required to adhere to a list of rules and regulations that are meant to lovingly support their children – who must endure the challenging process of going back and forth between homes.
If you are facing a child custody case or a divorce involving children, better understanding the Children’s Bill of Rights can afford you a better handle on your own responsibilities. If this is the situation you find yourself in, don’t wait to discuss your case with an experienced Round Rock divorce attorney.
The Guidelines Included
The Texas Children’s Bill of Rights amounts to a list of guidelines that are intended to help parents bolster their children’s overall well-being in the face of divorce. It’s also intended to help support the children’s ongoing relationships with each of their parents, which is universally considered beneficial to children – barring a seriously adverse reason for avoiding the practice.
Children Are the State’s Number One Priority
When it comes to matters that directly affect children, parents should understand that the State of Texas always puts the best interests of the children first. Further, the state sees parents are their children’s primary protectors, which means they should be well educated regarding their parental responsibilities.
Every Child’s Rights
The State of Texas decrees that every child has the right to live in a home that checks all the following boxes:
It is safe for the children who live in it.
It provides a healthy living environment for the children who live in it.
It is a comfortable place for the children to live.
Additionally, children have the right to be treated with respect, to live a life that’s free from parental neglect, and to live a life that’s free from all the following forms of abuse:
Physical
Emotional
Sexual
Further, children are entitled to all the following:
Adequate and healthy food
Access to a quality education
Necessary medical, dental, vision, and mental health services
The Main Takeaways for Parents
There are a wide range of primary points that the Children’s Bill of Rights wants parents to take away on behalf of their children.
Making Phone Calls and Communicating by Other Means
A parent should not deny their children reasonable use of the phone to make and receive calls from their other parent or relatives. Further, the child’s privacy must be respected, and parents shouldn’t employ overly rigid time constraints or attempt to interfere with this important means of communication between their children and their other parent.
This right extends to communicating with the other parent in a variety of forms, including writing letters and greeting cards and staying in touch via electronic means. Further, neither parent should intercept, lose, forget, derail, or otherwise interfere with their ex’s attempts to communicate with the children.
Bad-Mouthing the Other Parent
A parent shouldn’t bad-mouth their children’s other parent in their children’s presence – or write ugly comments about them when there is a chance the children will overhear them or gain access to the information. Doing so puts your children in the painful position of needing to process this information in the context of loving both of you, which is very confusing and unfair.
Additionally, neither parent should trivialize the other parent’s place in the child’s life or refuse to acknowledge their existence. Further, neither parent should attempt to dim the shine of the children’s experiences with their other parent, and this includes refusing to acknowledge that the children should have or do have a good time with that parent.
This bad-mouthing mandate extends to directly or indirectly attacking members of the other parent’s family, the other parent’s career, the other parent’s living or travel arrangements, the other parent’s associates, and the other parent’s engagement in lawful activities.
Arguing
The parents should take every precaution to help ensure that their children don’t overhear them when they are engaged in arguments, heated discussions, or negotiations regarding their divorce-related legal and business dealings.
Unduly Influencing
Neither parent shall engage in any form of physical or emotional attempt to pressure or influence the children regarding the parent’s opinion or position in relation to the pending legal proceedings. Further, neither parent should attempt to diminish the children’s view of their other parent by manipulating, rearranging, or altering the facts of the situation.
Parents shouldn’t rewrite, reimagine, or rescript facts that the children have experienced first-hand. Parents shouldn’t resort to physically punishing their children or threatening to physically punish them as a means of supporting their own negative program against the other parent.
Ultimately, children should be allowed to come to their own conclusions – as appropriate to their developmental stage – without any undue influence on the part of either parent.
Displaying Pictures
Neither parent should limit the children’s access to photos and memorabilia of their other parent, including in terms of displaying these items in their rooms.
Passing Moral Judgement
Neither parent shall engage in any form of communication with the children that passes moral judgment on the other regarding any of the following:
Their lifestyle
Their choice of friends
Their values
Their successes or failures
Their career
Their romantic relationships
Their financial circumstances
Their choice of residence
Honoring Both Homes
Although the child may live primarily in one parent’s residence, both parents should willingly acknowledge that the children have two homes that are both important to them.
Sharing Time
Each parent should appreciate the important role that the other plays in their children’s lives and should, to the degree possible, share parenting time. Further, neither parent should give the children the impression that it is up to them whether they want to spend time with their other parent.
The parenting time schedule ordered by the court is legally enforceable and is predicated on your children’s best interests, which makes it important to follow.
Digging for Information
Neither parent should engage in interrogation techniques to glean information about the other parent from their children. Nor should children be discouraged from talking about or making comments regarding their other parent.
Comparing and Contrasting
Neither parent should encourage their children to consider the differences between their parents – especially with an eye toward elevating the parent’s own stature.
Using the Children
The parents won’t put the children in the middle regarding their divorce and won’t use them as a means of communicating with one another – especially on inappropriate topics. Additionally, neither parent should attempt to make a child their ally, which amounts to standing in opposition to their other parent.
Measuring Love
A parent shouldn’t attempt to convince their children that they love them more than their other parent does. For example, the parent with whom the children spend the majority of their time shouldn’t encourage them to correlate this amount of time with the amount of love each parent has for them. Doing so is cruel and beyond a child’s ability to comprehend.
Discussing Topics that Are Off Limits
Neither parent should engage the children in topics that are off limits. One prime example is the matter of child support – whether the parent pays child support or receives it.
Welcoming the Children Home
When the children return from their other parent’s home, the parent welcoming them should not engage in any of the following:
Commentary about their other parent that is judgmental, negative, or opinionated
Physical inspections of the children or their belongings
Interrogations regarding the children’s experience
Engaging in Risky Practices
Neither parent shall engage in risky practices, including both the following:
Allowing the children to be driven by someone who is under the influence of alcohol or drugs
Smoking tobacco products inside a room, home, or vehicle that the children are in
Observing a Specific Religion
If it is the child’s wish to do so, the parents should assist and encourage their participation in the activities of their organized religion of choice.
Carrying Their Belongings
This is an important one that has the potential to create a significant amount of upheaval in the lives of divorced families. Children have the right to carry the belongings that are important to them back and forth between each of their parents’ homes, including the following:
Gifts
Clothing
Toys
Electronic devices
School gear
Sporting gear
The idea is to help make the child as comfortable as possible. While some families address this issue by keeping duplicates at both homes, parents are encouraged to do what it takes to support their children in relation to having two homes, which is challenging for anyone but is that much more so for children.
The state’s guidelines, however, extend only to those items that can be transported relatively easily and on a regular basis and does not include pets – or the recreation of each child’s bedroom in each home every other week.
Supporting Your Children’s Well-Being
The Children’s Bill of Rights is a commonsense guide to how best to address the immense transition your children face when they go from living in one home to living in two – or to living in two homes from the start if you and your child’s other parent were never married and didn’t live together after their birth.
You naturally want what’s best for your children and do everything you can to ensure their overall health, happiness, and well-being, and these guidelines can help you refine your attitude toward your ex in relation to your children.
No one is telling you that you and your children’s other parent need to be best friends – or even need to be on speaking terms – but in the context of your children, there are certain steps you can take to help ensure they don’t feel torn regarding their love for each of you.
The State of Texas is invested in supporting strong relationships between children and each of their parents, and these guidelines help pave the way toward this worthy goal.
Child Custody in Texas
In Texas, child custody is determined in accordance with the children’s best interests. Sometimes, this means one parent taking on the primary custodial role while the other has a visitation schedule, and other times, this means both parents sharing parenting time more evenly.
Texas courts value parents who are committed to co-parenting, which amounts to supporting one another’s close relationship with your shared children. You don’t have to do it for the sake of your ex, but it is what’s best for your children, which makes it worth the effort.
Additionally, by demonstrating your investment in effective co-parenting and in supporting your ex’s loving relationship with your shared children, you highlight your own parenting chops and let the court know that you take your children’s best interests as seriously as they do.
An Experienced Round Rock Divorce Attorney Is Standing By to Help
If you are facing a child custody case, Brett Pritchard at The Law Office of Brett H. Pritchard – proudly serving Round Rock, Texas, for more than 20 years – is a compassionate divorce attorney who dedicates his impressive practice to helping clients like you obtain favorable child custody terms that support their parental rights.
Your case is important and should not be left to change – reach out for our skilled legal guidance and more information about what we can do to help you by contacting or calling us at 254-781-4222 and scheduling a free consultation today.