Happy 2015 New Year Illinois…The holidays have wrapped up and many families are getting ready to send their children back to school. Looking back at 2014, there were a number of new Illinois laws that directly effected Illinois parents. Figuring prominently on last years list: a law directed at parental boundaries regarding their children’s social media use and your ex-spouse’s right to babysit the kids.
We all have concerns about the role social media plays in our children’s lives. Sites such as FaceBook, Twitter and Google Plus open our children up to many interactions with their peers and strangers alike – many positive and some potentially negative. In the interest of protecting children, some parents are tempted to do a bit of sleuthing on their kid’s social media sites to determine if all is well.
Last year, in a exception to the state’s eavesdropping law, parents were given the right to supervise and monitor the electronic accounts of their children without fear of repercussion. However, this freedom to delve into the social media lives of our children didn’t extend to the schools. The Privacy in the School Setting Act – House Bill 64 – prohibits a college or university from requesting or requiring a student, or his or her parents, to provide a password to a student’s account or profile on a social networking website.
Does reading about children’s online social habits make you feel like a parent lacking input into your children’s day to day lives following divorce? Another law that made the Illinois Top 5 last year may be of interest when it comes to spending more time with your kids. In the event you have joint custody of your children through a divorce settlement, securing a babysitter now has to go through a chain of command of sorts. According to 2014’s House Bill 2992, if temporary care is needed for a child, the first care option has to be run by your ex-spouse – a first right of refusal situation. Only after exhausting this resource may you move on to a list of possible teenage babysitters.
There were a number of Illinois laws that took effect in 2014 that may effect you and your family. In our next post, we will take a look at some of the new laws effecting parents in 2015 from cyber-bullying to e-cigarette sales to minors. If you have questions regarding a family law matter, please contact the Law Offices of Ronald L. Bell, PC. We can help you!
Source: slideshare.net, “Top 5 New Illinois Parenting Laws for 2014”, accessed January 3, 2015.