Thank you for contacting the Official Information Act request mailbox for
the Ministry of Justice. We will endeavour to respond to your email within
2 working days. 

You can find more information about how we can help you at our [1]Official
Information Act Requests page.

Please send any non-OIA related emails through to
o[2][email address] and any complaints through to
[3][email address]

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Kia ora M Murphy,
 
We acknowledge receipt of your request for information regarding shared
custody.
 
This has been forwarded onto the relevant business unit to respond to.
 
You can expect a response as soon as practicable.
 
Ngā mihi,

 
Ministerial Relations and Services
  Strategy, Governance and Finance
DDI: +64 4 918 8800
[1]www.justice.govt.nz

 

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M Murphy

[1][FOI #17388 email]

 

              
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              Our
ref: 91735

 

 

Tçnâ koe

 

Shared custody arrangements during COVID-19 Alert Level restrictions

 

Thank you for your email of 29 October 2021, regarding shared custody
arrangements and travel across COVID-19 Alert Level boundaries. 

 

My response to your questions are below. I hope you can understand that as
a government official, I am unable to offer legal advice on how the rules
apply to any person’s particular circumstances.

 

1) Must the accompanying guardians travel be completed in one trip?

 

Example: Parent A travels from Alert Level 3 to Parent B's residence in
Alert Level 2, collects children and returns to residence in Alert Level
3)

 

Yes, so far as is reasonably possible, parents travelling between COVID-19
Alert Levels for shared care arrangements should complete their journey in
one trip. This means a guardian should travel and collect a child and then
return to their home in one trip.

 

2) Where parents with shared custody agree that it is their preference for
children not to travel between Alert Levels, are parents able to opt to
utilise this exemption to spend time with their children in a different
Alert Level than their Alert Level of residence?

 

Example: Parent A resides in (Auckland) Alert Level 3, travels to Parent
B's home in Alert Level 2, collects the children and then stays in
alternative accommodation in Alert Level 2 with the children for a week
prior to returning to their home in Alert Level 3. Or vice versa.

 

No, this is not permitted. Only a child is permitted to travel under a
shared parenting arrangement to another COVID-19 Alert Level area and then
visit or stay in that area with the caregiver who lives there. Caregivers
are only permitted to travel to another Alert Level area to accompany
their child to the home of another shared caregiver or to collect their
child from another caregiver’s home. They may not travel to another Alert
Level area to spend time in that area with their child.

 

As you may be aware, there is some general guidance about shared parenting
under different Alert Levels on the Ministry’s website here: [2]Guidance
for managing shared parenting during COVID-19 Alert Levels | New Zealand
Ministry of Justice

 

Thank you for writing.

 

Nâku noa, nâ

 

Helen McDonald

Policy Manager, Policy Group, Courts & Justice Services

 

 

Ngâ mihi,  

   

 

Ministerial Relations and Services
Ministry of Justice | Tahû o te Ture

Strategy, Governance and Finance

 

 

 

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2. https://www.justice.govt.nz/about/news-a...



Thank you for contacting the Official Correspondence mailbox for the
Ministry of Justice. We will endeavour to respond to your email within 2
working days. 

Please send any OIA requests through to [1][Ministry of Justice request email] and
complaints through to [2][email address]

 

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