COVID-19 and Parenting Time
Colleen M. Hurley • April 9, 2020
With the rise of COVID-19 in Illinois, all residents have concerns about the health and safety of themselves and their loved ones. Many of those going through a family law case may also have the additional concern regarding the best way to handle a parenting time schedule with their co-parent.
In March, Governor Pritzker issued an executive order requiring residents of Illinois, inter alia, to adhere to stay-at-home provisions and social distancing requirements. This was initially set to extend until April 7, 2020, and was subsequently set to extend to April 30, 2020, or until further executive order.
The social distancing requirements include maintaining a six-foot social distance from other individuals, washing hands with soap and water for at least twenty seconds as frequently as possible (or using hand sanitizer as frequently as possible), covering coughs or sneezes (in elbows or sleeves, and not with hands), cleaning high-touch surfaces, and refraining from shaking hands.
The stay-at-home provisions direct Illinois residents to remain home as much as possible, and to only leave the home for essential activities, which include those for health and safety, for necessary supplies and services, for outdoor activity, for certain types of work, and to take care of others as allowed by the executive order.
These orders have left many co-parents wondering how to best follow these executive orders while continuing to co-parent in line with their order or judgment setting forth a parenting time schedule. Many have wondered if their parenting time schedules should continue as normal, or come to a temporary halt in consideration of COVID-19, and many have come to find that they may have views that differ from their co-parent regarding this.
Governor Pritzker’s executive order anticipated this dilemma and provides guidance to this question. Within the order, Illinois residents are permitted to engage in “essential travel,” which is defined, in part, as “travel required by law enforcement or court order, including to transport children pursuant to a custody agreement.”
In light of the direction of the executive order, the expectation is for co-parents to continue to follow their orders or judgments that set forth parenting time schedules, while following the social distancing requirements and stay-at-home provisions as much as possible. Of course, co-parents should strive to be flexible with each other and use good common sense related to this and should prioritize the health and safety of their child. Co-parents should agree to temporarily suspend their normal parenting time schedules if either of them, or their child, begins to exhibit symptoms of COVID-19, or receives a positive test result for the same.
Where following the normal parenting time schedule is not possible, FaceTime or video conferencing is a great solution to still allow for contact between parent and child during this uncertain time.
If you would like more information on this topic, please contact the author, family law attorney Colleen M. Hurley, at 312-888-4112 or churley@lavellelaw.com.
To review Governor Pritzker’s initial executive order regarding social distancing and stay-at-home provisions in response to COVID-19, please find it HERE.
To review Governor Pritzker’s executive order extending the stay-at-home provisions and social distancing requirements to April 30, 2020, please find it HERE.
For more information about COVID-19, also known as the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV), please visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html
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