Thank you for joining me. My name is LaSheena Williams, and I am a Maryland family law attorney. My firm helps our clients take control of out-of-control domestic situations. Today, we will be discussing making sure your home is fit for your young children.
Why is this important?
If you are currently in a custody case or even if you’re in a situation where custody has not yet been decided or agreed upon, it’s important that you have a home that’s safe and appropriate for your children. If you’re currently actually in litigation the court will take your request for additional parenting time more seriously if you have put in the work to have a fit, stable, and secure living environment for your small children.
Baby Proofing
If you have very small children, it’s important that you properly baby proof your home. When undergoing a custody case or custody battle, every little thing that happens to your child is scrutinized. And it’s important that there’s not any issues that come up involving unsafe living conditions in your home because that will be brought up and it will be reviewed by the court, and they may or may not take that into consideration when deciding your parenting time or your custodial rights for your child. For example, if you don’t have your sockets, your electric sockets, properly covered in your child hurts themselves, the court may not take that as you being a fit parent to care for the child because A, you let that type of accident happen, B, this is a perfectly avoidable accident, and C, now your child’s harmed. Now they’re impacted in such a way that it could hurt them for the rest of their lives, and it makes it so that you might not necessarily be a reliable caregiver for your child.
Locking Up Adult Substances
If you have very, very small children, it’s important that your children don’t have access to adult substances, such as, alcohol or marijuana or prescription drugs because if for some reason they get into these substances they become sick, again, this will be a major issue involved in your case and this may drastically impact your custodial rights or your parenting time with your children if that’s the case.
Having Appropriate Space
In Maryland, you’re not required to have a bedroom for each child, you’re not even required to have one bedroom for multiple children. Your space is meant to be appropriate. Meaning they have a safe place to sleep, that it’s you know cozy, that they have their items there, and the more appropriate that space is for your child, the more it looks like you’re raising them seriously, that you have the ability to raise them, and that they’ll be comfortable, it’ll be in their best interest to spend time at your home. If for some reason you don’t have a space for your children, let’s say you and the child are sharing a sofa bed and maybe you’re all in a living room or something and there’s no privacy that creates dangers for your child that the court may take into consideration when making a custody decision.
If you have any questions about child custody modifications or child custody establishment orders or even just best practice services for maintaining a safe space for your children, contact the Law Office of LaSheena M. Williams at (301) 778 – 9950 or leave an online request for a consultation.
