Getting Your Children Back After You Achieve Sobriety Is More Complicated Than It Seems

If you are in a room with a sufficient number of people, the odds are that at least one of them is a recovering addict, and he or she measures time in terms of before and after sobriety. The day you stopped using drugs or drinking alcohol marks the separation point between the before times and the current era. Every day is a struggle, but the future is bright. You are eager to make up for lost time and mend the relationships that have become strained because of your addiction. If you have children, then repairing your relationship with them is a priority. You want to spend more time with them, but if you have a court-ordered parenting plan, then your sobriety is only one of many factors that determines whether modifying your children’s parenting plan is in their best interests. If you have reached a stage in your sobriety journey where you want to increase your parenting time and you need help proposing a modification to your parenting plan, contact a Boca Raton child custody lawyer.

Continuity Matters More Than Your Shiny New Life

The unpleasant truth is that, when it comes to the family court’s decisions about parenting time, addiction counts against you more than sobriety counts in your favor. When the courts decide which parent should have more parenting time, the children’s physical safety is one of the factors they consider. If you are drunk or high when you are with your children, or if there are illicit drugs in the house, this is a safety hazard; the bigger penalties, though, only occur if there is evidence that the children were at immediate risk of harm, such as if you got a DUI while your children were in the car, or if your ex came to pick up the children and saw a bag of white powder on the coffee table that you probably thought was meth, but you can’t prove that it wasn’t mixed with fentanyl.

This does not erase your status as a parent. Unless you have seriously harmed your children, and you would know if you did because you would have gotten felony charges for it, you are still entitled to parenting time. It is not safe for you to be alone with your children, the court might order supervised parenting time. Court orders for supervised parenting time go up for review every six months.

As for increasing your parenting time after getting sober, you must prove that it would be better than the status quo for your children. Continuity of routine is another factor the courts use in determining the children’s best interests. If the children are in middle school or older, the court might also ask them about their preferences.

Contact Schwartz | White About Increasing Your Parenting Time After Addiction Recovery

A South Florida family law attorney can help you if you have been sober long enough that increasing your parenting time is now your priority.  Contact Schwartz | White in Boca Raton, Florida about your case.

Source:

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