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 safe for your teenage children.
Why is this important for your case?
Making sure you have a safe space for your children is very important for your child custody case for several reasons. One when your children are older if they don’t have a space that they can consider their own or that they feel comfortable considering their own, they may not want to visit you and the older your children are, the more their desired to visit you or not visit you, that plays into a custody decision. For example, if you have a 16-year-old who’s not comfortable staying at your home and they actively refuse to come visit you at your home, the court is unlikely to make them visit you at your home. Whereas that might not necessarily be the case for a 13-year-old. So, it’s important that you make sure that you have the actual space available for them and that they are comfortable in your living space for you to spend time with your children.
Locking up Firearms and Adult Substances
If you happen to have adult substances, such as prescription medication, marijuana, alcohol in your home or if you happen to have firearms, it’s very, very important for you to make sure that those items are secured and that your children do not have access. Some children, quite frankly, make choices that adults might not necessarily agree with, they may get into your firearm, they may partake in the prescription medication, there are several issues that could happen and if those types of issues occur, it may negatively impact your child custody matter.
Monitor Their Internet Access and Usage
It’s very important that you monitor your children’s internet access when in your home. Sometimes their internet activities can negatively impact your child custody matter and if you’re not appropriately monitoring them this may negatively hurt your child custody case. For example, I’ve had a case where a child was in their co-parents care and that child started taking drugs and video recording them on the Internet and they would record all sorts of other inappropriate activities and that information was used to get my client the custody that he was seeking because all of this was happening while under that child’s co-parents care. So, it’s important for you to be monitoring the access and making sure that what they’re doing is appropriate because you never know what your child’s actions will do that will impact your custody case.
If you have any questions about making sure that you have a safe space for your teenage children or any questions regarding child custody modifications or child custody establishments, contact the Law Office of LaSheena M. Williams at (301) 778 – 9950 or leave an online request for a consultation.
