By 
Washington State has developed laws and procedures governing child custody matters to ensure that children of divorced or separated parents continue to receive the same level of care as when the parents were together. These laws are found in the Revised Code of the State of Washington at Title 26. Information regarding the requirements for custody and visitation hours can be found within these statutes. This information is crucial for the parents to understand, because they must make a custody schedule that the court will accept and uphold. Here is a brief description of some of the rules that guide visiting hours.
1. The court can order co-parenting time. Title 26 gives the court the authority to order shared parenting time for custody and visitation hours. A co-parenting schedule means that the child frequently alternates her residence between the parents’ homes. Parents can also agree to this type of schedule before going to court. This obviously has a big impact on the custody schedule that parents create. Some of the factors the court considers when deciding to order this schedule are: whether the parents have previously been able to cooperate, whether the parents agree to the arrangement, whether the parents live close to each other, whether either parent has abandoned to the child in the past, if it is in the best interest of the child, etc.
2. The court makes all custody decisions in the best interest of the child. In the first section of Title 26, the law specifically states that the court uses the standard of what is in the best interest of the child to make custody decisions and assign parental rights. Parents should focus on this standard when creating their custody program. The parent’s time schedule should be based on the physical, emotional and mental needs of the child. The child must have enough time with each parent to receive attention and continue to develop relationships. The Washington court will not accept anything that does not benefit the child.
3. The schedule should support the child’s emotional growth, physical health, and mental health. The law has stated that a schedule that is in the best interest of the child will maintain the child’s emotional growth, physical health, and mental health (this is found in Title 26). Parents should think about all of these things when creating the visiting schedule. To help ensure that the program meets this requirement, the court will consider: the relative strength, nature, and stability of the child’s relationship with each parent; the daily roles that parents fulfilled before separating; the past and potential future performance of parenting by each parent; the emotional needs and level of development of the child; the child’s relationship with her siblings and other influential people in the child’s life; the wishes of the parents and the child; and parents’ work schedules. All of these factors influence how the custody and visitation schedule should be done.