Vermont family law does not always protect the relationships children depend on during separation, divorce, parental death, relocation, and other major family transitions.
Children can lose substantial relationships with parents, grandparents, siblings, and extended family members—not because those relationships are unsafe, but because existing law does not give courts clear or adequate tools to preserve them.
Vermont can do better.
Shared Parenting
Vermont courts cannot order shared custody unless both parents agree.
Even when both parents are fit and both have been substantially involved in raising their child, one parent’s refusal prevents the court from ordering shared parental rights and responsibilities.
Instead, Vermont law requires the court to award those rights primarily or solely to one parent.
This can prevent courts from preserving the parenting arrangement a child has actually known. It can also encourage parents to compete for primary status rather than work toward a stable and workable arrangement.
Children should not lose the continuing involvement of a safe and loving parent merely because the adults cannot agree.
Learn about shared parenting and Vermont law →
Family Continuity After a Parent Dies
After losing a parent, a child could also lose their grandparents.
Vermont law does not automatically preserve a child’s relationship with the deceased parent’s family.
A surviving parent or custodian may end contact with grandparents and other relatives, even when those relationships have been loving, substantial, and important to the child. Grandparents may then have to initiate a court case simply to seek continued access.
For a grieving child, the deceased parent’s family may provide continuity, identity, shared memories, and a lasting connection to the parent who died.
The loss of a parent should not unnecessarily become the loss of an entire side of the family.
Learn about grandparents and family continuity →
The Broader Problem
These are not isolated issues.
Vermont law should give courts clearer standards for protecting children’s established family relationships while responding appropriately to abuse, neglect, coercion, and genuine safety concerns.
Important decisions should be based on evidence, the child’s actual history, and specific findings—not merely on one adult’s refusal to cooperate or permit contact.
What Reform Should Accomplish
Balanced reform should:
- Place children’s long-term well-being at the center of family-law decisions
- Protect children from abuse and genuine safety risks
- Preserve safe, substantial, and beneficial family relationships
- Consider the child’s actual caregiving and family history
- Require significant restrictions to be supported by evidence and specific findings
- Reduce incentives for strategic conflict and unnecessary litigation
- Give Vermont courts clearer and more consistent legal standards
Protecting Safety. Preserving Connection.
Family continuity does not mean maintaining every relationship regardless of harm.
It means ensuring that children do not unnecessarily lose safe, loving, and important family relationships during the moments when they need stability most.
We are working to develop careful, evidence-based reforms that protect children’s safety while preserving the connections that help them thrive.