In all custody cases, the child’s best interests are the priority

We recently discussed how rapists in Maryland can still petition the court for custody of their children. Even though this might seem like a harrowing ordeal, it is possible for the child’s other parent to fight to keep the child safe.

In Maryland, the court’s responsibility is to keep the child safe and to do what is in the best interests of the child. This isn’t easy, especially when the court might have to keep the child away from a parent. Still, every possibility has to be considered in these cases.

We know that these cases are few and far between; however, there are other instances in which a parent might feel the need to ask the court to keep the child away from the other parent. These cases must only occur if this is truly in the child’s best interests. A parent shouldn’t try to keep the child away from the other parent out of spite.

In some cases, such as when there was abuse in the home, the need for only one parent to have custody of the child might be present. In these cases, the other parent might be able to obtain supervised visits with the child. While this isn’t ideal, it does provide the child the opportunity to get to know that parent.

In every child custody case, there are two sides. It is sometimes possible for these two sides to sync up so that the child can enjoy both parents without having to deal with any stress from strife. When that isn’t possible, it is often best to have a solid child custody order in place to spell out what will occur with the child.