Children who are medically complex and those who have special needs often count on their parents to care for them. When both parents live in the same home, they may be able to split the responsibilities. If the parents go through a divorce, coming up with a parenting plan might be a challenge. You have to think about the child’s unique needs, so some of the common custody methods might not work.
For some parents, transportation is a huge concern because of the child’s equipment. In these cases, the parents might do better if they share the adaptive vehicle so that whoever has the child has the ability to get them where they need to go.
While it is unconventional, one solution that might help these parents is using the “bird’s nest” style of parenting. This means that the child lives in the home while the parents rotate in and out. When a child has complex needs, especially needs that involve special equipment, it might be more cost effective and less stressful to work out the terms for this arrangement.
Another issue that needs to be discussed ahead of time is who will make the decisions for the child. You have to consider medical care, education and other similar matters that might come up. Because the child might need considerable medical and therapy appointments, the parents may need to work together to come up with a suitable schedule.
It’s always best to have these points in writing. Making sure that you get everything outlined in the parenting plan may help to reduce the chance that problems will arise in the future.