Modifications to Indiana Parenting Time Guidelines

The Indiana Parenting Time Guidelines (IPTG) have been modified by the Indiana Supreme Court and are effective March 1, 2013. These changes apply only to parenting time orders issued after March 1, 2013 and do not apply retroactively.

1. Year-long calendars and holidays: Parents will be encouraged to develop a year-long calendar and, while holiday parenting time will supercede regularly scheduled parenting time, parents will no longer be required to switch weekends because of the holiday parenting time. What that means is that there will be situations where a parent may have the child or children for three weekends in a row.
New Year's Eve and New Year's Day will no longer be considered holidays but will be a a part of the regular Christmas holiday. If a child's school observes these holidays then Martin Luther King, Jr. Day weekend and President's Day weekend are added as holidays (Friday at 6:00 p.m. to Monday at 7:00 p.m.) and Fall Break is also added as a holiday (if observed by the school) from two hours after school until 7:00 p.m. the night before school starts.

2. Communication: The amended IPTG includes email addresses to be added to contact information for each party and emphasis is added to punctual parenting time exchanges with the non-delaying parent to make up parenting time for the delay.

3. Parallel Parenting: There is a new section entitled "Parallel Parenting" which are appropriate only in high conflict cases. Based on the need to minimize communication between parents, there are several provisions addressing this approach as well as a model Parallel Parenting order in the appendix. Parallel Parenting orders are also reviewed by the Court every 180 days to determine if such orders are still appropriate.

4. Additional parenting time: The "right of first refusal" now defines a "responsible household family memeber" as an "adult person residing in the household who is related to the child by blood, marriage or adoption.

Dog Town

My husband and I recently took a vacation to the Grand Canyon. After thoroughly exploring the Canyon, we headed up to Kanab, Utah to volunteer at the Best Friends Animal Society. I've been a member of Best Friends ever since I saw the show "Dog Town" on National Geographic. Best Friends has about 3,000 acres in the Red Rock Canyons of southern Utah. It offers a home for life for dogs, cats, pigs, bunnies, birds and horses. They've taken in some famous strays including the Michael Vic dogs and hurricane Katrina dogs. We spent our time volunteering by walking dogs, feeding them, sweeping and mopping out cages, and spending time with dogs who needed a little one-on-one time. We even did two sleepovers with dogs who needed to see what it was like to live in a house (and of course sleep in a bed). Although it was hard work, it was truly a rewarding experience and not terribly heart-breaking since we know that every animal there has a wonderful home for life, even if they never get adopted. I encourage you to check out Best Friends at www.bestfriends.org and see how you can join in the fight to create a world of No More Homeless Pets.