You love your child and want to be sure you see them as much as possible. What you find difficult, though, is arranging a custody schedule that works well for you.
You work in a hospital and have a busy, irregular schedule. While you do have days off, you also have certain days where you’re on call or you have to take over rotations because someone else couldn’t come in.
This is challenging because your custody arrangements need to be stable. What can you do?
Determine the days you can be available
Your first step is to figure out which days you can be available. For example, you might currently work five days a week on 10-hour shifts and have to cover weekends once a month. If this schedule is relatively standardized, then you should be able to negotiate custody on all but one weekend.
You may also be able to talk to your employer about adjusting your schedule. For instance, if you were to switch to 12-hour shifts for four days, could you gain an additional day off in the middle of the week? If so, then you may be able to add an additional day of custody to make sure you can see your child.
As for on-call days, consider having someone waiting to babysit or care for your child if you have to go into work. For instance, you might hire someone to clean or take care of the house that day and also pay them to watch your child if you have to go into work. A live-in nanny or nearby family and friends could also be good choices for childcare if you have to go to work suddenly.
Working out custody with a busy schedule has its challenges
In your profession, you have many important responsibilities, but you want to put your child first. Do what you can to figure out which days you know you can be present, and seek those days for custody. If you can make adjustments later, then you may be able to file a child custody modification request in court at that time.
