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Visitation rights: I cannot see my child. What can I do?

Illinois law strongly favors maximum involvement by both parents in their children’s lives. This includes the right of both parents to visit and spend time with their children. Even though one parent may have been granted the majority of parenting time, or was granted decision-making responsibilities over all major areas of the child’s life, the other parent still has the right to enjoy time with the child. Visitation rights are strongly encouraged by Illinois courts, and are only taken away in circumstances where a parent poses a serious danger to the child.

If the other parent of your child is denying you the right to see your child, or is concealing the child’s location from you, custody attorney Michael Navarro can bring your case in front of a judge and fight for your rights to parenting time. If a previous court order was in place granting you a visitation schedule, and the other parent is refusing to follow this schedule, he or she may be in violation of the court order. Our family law attorneys can file a petition to bring this violation to the attention of a judge. If no previous court order has been granted, we can file a petition and ask that the court grant you a reasonable visitation schedule.

Alienation

In some cases, one parent will instill bad feelings in the children towards the other parent, or will discourage the children from wanting to spend time with the other parent. This is called parental alienation, and numerous psychological studies have shown that this can be damaging to a child’s mental health. Illinois judges generally want both parents to cooperate in encouraging a close and loving relationship between the children and each parent. If you feel your children may be at risk of alienation by the other parent, your family law attorney can request that the judge to put a court order in place prohibiting both parents from engaging in such alienating behavior which would discourage a healthy relationship between the children and parents.

If you have not seen your children for a long time, despite your attempts to reach out and contact them, a judge may want to exercise a certain degree of caution during the process of reunifying your relationship with the children. This may be especially true when the children are at a young age. A judge may order that a neutral attorney, such as a Guardian Ad Litem or Child Representative be appointed to your case. This attorney’s role would be to represent the interests of your children. The attorney would investigate the facts of your case by speaking to both parents and the children, and would report back to the judge as to his or her recommendations going forward with the case. A judge may also order that counseling sessions take place between you, your child, and a therapist to help carefully ease the reunification process. The time span of this process may be frustrating, however it is important to understand that a judge would be taking these precautions for the health and best interests of your children. Court proceedings can have a serious effect on a child’s mental or emotional health, and judges often determine in certain cases that such counseling sessions are the safest way to begin facilitating a reunification between a parent and an alienated child.

(815) 207-9570

Call to schedule an initial consultation

To schedule a consultation with a dedicated and experienced family law attorney serving Will County, Dupage County, and Kendall County, call Navarro Family Law today at (815) 207-9570.