The court usually gives the parent who does not have the children in their care a right to contact (this used to be called the right of ‘reasonable access’) with the children. The law aims to maximize the amount of contact children have with both parents. This is where the parents share time with the children without impacting on their routine and which is in their interest, which usually means that the children spend at least every second weekend and every second long and short school holiday with the parent who does not have care of the children.

However this arrangement may not be appropriate for very young children and depends on the circumstances. If the order does not specify how often and for how long the access should take place, then a parental plan must be drawn-up. A parental plan is an agreement in which it specifies when a parent can have access to the child. The Family Advocate can assist the parents in drawing-up a parental plan.

If the parent asking for care does not think the other parent should have unrestricted contact to the children, he or she can ask the court that contact be supervised or restricted. The parent with custody of the children must give good reasons why access should be restricted, for example, that the parent abuses the children or has a serious drinking problem and will not look after the children. That parent’s access would then have to be supervised by the mother or another adult person.

Also, if one parent has contact rights, this does not mean that he has the right to see the children in the other parent’s home.
(See: Custody, guardianship and support of children)