January 14, 2015 Losing custody and visitation rights with your child is a difficult experience for any parent. A parent may lose contact with a child after a divorce or because of allegations of abuse. The good news for parents is that they do have options for regaining contact with their child after this occurs. The spirit of the law is generally on the parent’s side because it is generally accepted that a child benefits from contact with both parents as much as possible. Gain Understanding The best place to start is with a full understanding of why custody or visitation rights were lost in the first place. The court does not take a no contact order between a parent and child lightly. It may be that at the time of the order, the court did not see the parent in question as a beneficial influence to the child. All custody cases are decided on what is proven to be in the child’s best interest. Sometimes facts and situations can be twisted or exaggerated, but generally the court has good reasons to create a no contact order. A parent wishing to reestablish contact should work to understand and accept this reasoning. Arguing with the court’s reasoning or fighting against the system is not a good way to regain lost rights. Use Provided Services and Show Effort The court will often outline ways in which a parent can work to regain visitation or custody rights with a child. It may be that they need to provide a safer environment or they need to attend counseling or drug recovery services. Making use of these services will not only help correct whatever problems caused the loss of contact, but they will also demonstrate to the court the parent’s willingness to put in real effort to regain lost rights. If contact was lost due to a divorce, then a parent can also help their case by showing a willingness to work with the opposing parent. This may mean being willing to talk and be flexible with the other parent’s schedule when it comes to working out a visitation plan. The court is often sensitive to how parents work with each other because this impacts the child. The most important thing to keep in mind is to be hopeful and put forth the best and most appropriate effort. The spirit of the laws wants families to be together and wants children to have relationships with their parents as long as those relationships are beneficial and healthy. Demonstrating this is the key to regaining lost visitation or custody rights. An attorney can be very useful in helping a parent understand why the rights were lost and how to work on regaining them. To speak to an attorney regarding visitation rights, call The Nahajski Firm at 206-621-0500 or contact an attorney online today.