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When it comes to child custody, not all Louisiana families can share parenting time anywhere close to equally. One parent may need to be designated as the primary custodian while the other receives visitation. This may occur for any number of reasons such as work schedules, distance and the like. If you are the noncustodial parent, regardless of your reasons for doing so, you can still make the most of your visitation as you work out a parenting agreement.

For instance, since you will not have the children as often as the other parent does, you may work in a schedule of phone calls to keep in touch with your children. You may even work in some face-to-face communications through technologies such as webcams, Skype or Facetime. The number of technological options seems to grow each year, and as a noncustodial parent, you can take full advantage of them.

Of course, this may also require you to be able to effectively communicate with your former spouse. The better your relationship is with the other parent despite your no longer being a couple, the greater the chances are that you will be able to make use of these types of communication on a regular basis. The two of may need to make a pact that your children’s needs and interests trump whatever stumbling blocks you encounter.

Many sources discuss the need for a parenting plan when shared custody is on the table, but you can also create such a plan when you know that just is not feasible. Just because the other parent has primary physical custody of the children here in Louisiana and you have visitation does not mean that a written plan will not provide value to both parents and children alike. In fact, the more details you can outline ahead of time, the less likely you are of running into problems in the future.

Source: thespruce.com, “Be an Involved Non-custodial Parent“, Jennifer Wolf, Sept. 16, 2017