Your Parenting Plan: The Children’s Bill of Rights in Divorce

When parents separate or divorce, the immediate focus is understandably on adult tasks: making legal decisions, finances, and parenting schedules. But for children, the experience is very different. Their sense of stability, family identity, and emotional security may suddenly feel uncertain.

That’s why many courts, mediators, and parenting programs emphasize a framework known as the Bill of Rights for Children Whose Parents are Separated or Divorced—a set of principles designed to guide parents in ways that support and protect children after their parents’ separation.

In New York, these rights appear in the New York State Parent Education and Awareness Program (PEAP) handbook, a resource guide that many separating or divorcing parents receive when attending a New York-certified parenting education class.  The goal of the program is simple: help parents understand how divorce affects them and their children and how parental behavior can shape how well children adjust.

The Bill of Rights for Children Whose Parents are Separated or Divorced is not a law. Instead, it is a set of child-centered statements that guide parents on what children need most during a family transition.

And while the framework appears in New York’s materials, the ideas behind it apply everywhere. Courts across the United States rely on similar principles when evaluating custody decisions under the standard known as “the best interests of the child.” The Bill of Rights for Children Whose Parents are Separated or Divorced translates that legal concept into everyday parenting choices.

The Bill of Rights for Children Whose Parents are Separated or Divorced is   useful at every stage of the divorce process:

• If you are considering separation, it can guide how you talk to your children and protect them from conflict.
• If you are negotiating parenting arrangements, it provides a lens for evaluating schedules and communication.
• If you are already co-parenting, it helps keep the focus on stability and emotional safety for your child.

Because while divorce ends a marriage, it does not end parenting.

The Core Rights Children Need During Divorce

The Bill of Rights for Children Whose Parents are Separated or Divorced outlines fundamental protections children should have during and after their parents’ separation.

Children have the right:

• To love and be loved by both parents without guilt, pressure, or feeling disloyal.
• To be protected from their parents’ anger and conflict.
• To not be placed in the middle of disputes, carry messages, or hear complaints about the other parent.
• To maintain consistent routines and stability in their daily lives.
• To