Parents with custody of a child placed in foster care have visitation rights. A non-custodial parent deemed a threat to the child can be denied visitation rights by the court. The court may decide that meeting with the parent would be harmful to the child in question's physical or mental health. For the reunification of children in foster care with biological parents, case plans may require parents to maintain consistency in visitation. The meetings generally take place at the caseworker's office or the foster home where the child has been placed.
In a child custody case, the court can award sole legal custody to one parent, if, for example; one parent is deemed unfit due to drug dependency or alcohol abuse problems. In many cases, the parents take legal joint custody and the non-custodial parent is allowed a visitation schedule. One parent is considered the primary physical caretaker, and the other parent gets visitation rights. In cases where a parent inflicts direct harm to the child, the court may allow supervised visitation.
Children of parents who are legally separated or divorced live with one parent while the other parent gets child visitation rights. The parent who has custody of the child must grant the other parent, or non-custodial parent, reasonable visitation rights. The courts in each state generally determine visitation rights. These rights are drafted into the child visitation order by the court. Parents are required by law to adhere to the terms of the custody and visitation orders consistently. Visitation orders have to ensure the safety, welfare and health and frequent interaction with both parents.
A parent awarded physical custody by the court is entitled to have the child living with him. Laws vary in each state in the U.S., and some states grant combined physical custody to the parents. In this case, the child gets to spend significant amounts of time with both parents. For example, a child may stay a week at a time with each parent, which works well and is less stressful if the parents live near each other. As this is not always the case, the child may sometimes live primarily with one parent, and the other parent can make periodic visits.