Impact of Deployment on Child Custody and Visitation Rights

Military deployments are never easy. You must uproot your entire life and go where needed for several months or years. If you have a child custody or visitation arrangement in place, deployment can make things even more difficult as it often affects the parenting plan and other arrangements that you have created with your child’s best interests in mind.

If you need help navigating and addressing these issues, consider speaking with a San Antonio military child custody attorney immediately.

How does military deployment affect child custody and visitation

Military deployment can affect child custody and visitation in several significant ways, such as:

• The deployed parent will be unable to be physically present and involved in the child’s life and routine.
• The non-deployed parent will have to adjust their schedule to care for the child while the deployed parent is away.
• The child may feel confused, stressed, or even abandoned by their deployed parent.
• The child must adapt and adjust to spending most of their time with the non-deployed parent or another caregiver.
• The non-deployed parent or another caregiver will have to take on more responsibilities for the child.
• The deployed parent will need to depend on the non-deployed parent to make most of the decisions regarding their child’s medical care, education, extracurricular activities, and more.

A deployment can be extremely challenging for all parties involved. Therefore, both parents must have a conversation early on about how they will pivot in the event of a potential deployment before it ever happens. This conversation will reduce surprises and stress when the time comes for the military parent to deploy.

Can I modify my child custody or visitation agreement while deployed?

It is important to know that the federal government protects military service members. Therefore, being deployed does not mean losing your child custody or visitation rights while you are gone. Instead, your custody and visitation rights will still be there once you return. If the other parent wants to change the agreement, they will need to argue before the court that a modification would be in the child’s best interests. In that case, the burden would be on them to prove the change is necessary, and they would need to go through all the same steps as any other parent seeking a modification. However, since you will not be able to be physically involved in your child’s life while deployed, you may need to modify or clarify aspects of your child custody or visitation agreement before you leave.

In the best-case scenarios, both parents can sit down and develop a parenting plan together that puts the child’s best interests first. If this is not possible, a San Antonio child custody lawyer can help you understand these challenges, protect your rights as a parent, and prepare a strong case to present to the judge.

What should my temporary custody or visitation agreement consist of?

A temporary agreement can help your child maintain their routine while you are deployed. You must establish a temporary agreement before you leave, or the courts will be forced to decide who will care for and make decisions for your child while you are deployed. Some of the most important factors that should be mentioned in a temporary custody or visitation agreement include:

• Who the child will be with during your custody or visitation time
• What type of schedule the child will have while you are away
• Where the child will live while you are deployed
• Any medical information about the child
• Any financial arrangements for the non-deployed parent or caregiver to take care of the child
• How and when you will communicate with the child
• When you may be able to visit with the child
• When you are expected to be back from deployment so the original parenting plan can be reinstated

In almost all situations, the parent still home will assume full responsibility for caring for the child while the other parent is on deployment. There are also times when grandparents, stepparents, and other family members can or will assume care to ensure the child’s routine is upheld.

Five tips on how to maintain a strong parent-child relationship and bond during deployment

To help you maintain a strong parent-child relationship and bond during deployment, here are a few ideas to try:

1. Teach your child to use electronic devices to communicate with you through email or video calls.
2. Take videos and share them with your child if you can’t talk with them.
3. Record your voice reading your child’s favorite bedtime stories for them to listen to each night.
4. Fill a jar with your child’s favorite candy and place one piece for each day you will be away to help them count down.
5. Create a scrapbook for your child to look at and see pictures of you and them together before you leave. They can look at this scrapbook when they feel sad or miss you.

Are you a military parent who is being deployed and worried about how this could impact your child? If so, reach out to a San Antonio family law attorney from Grable Grimshaw, PLLC. We can schedule a meeting to sit down and discuss your situation, inform you of your rights, develop a parenting plan that works for you and your ex-spouse during the deployment, and more. Please call our office or submit our contact form to schedule a no-obligation consultation at our San Antonio office today.