A joint custody agreement refers to an agreement between parents or other guardians on how the rights, obligations and practices related to the child’s custody are shared.
It may be necessary to agree on custody, for example, when
The parents, guardians and possible other parties conclude a joint custody agreement with the help of the wellbeing services county’s child welfare supervisor. The child welfare supervisor assists the parties in reaching an agreement on a child’s custody, the child’s residence, access to the child, right of access to information, and child maintenance, and verifies the agreement.
A joint custody agreement can include for example agreements such as the following
The child welfare supervisor assists in the negotiations but does not determine the content of the agreements. Instead, the parents must reach an agreement on matters related to the child.
An agreement verified by the child welfare supervisor is equivalent to a court decision. The information confirmed in the agreement is entered in the population information system, from where it can be used by the systems of various authorities.
If the child’s guardians cannot agree on joint custody of the child, the child’s residence and right of access to the child, they can request a court to make a decision on the matter. Before making a decision, the court may request a report on the circumstances of the guardians and the child from the wellbeing services county.
During the investigation, social workers will obtain information from the parents together and separately, during home visits and, if necessary, by meeting with the child. They will also request information from other authorities and experts working with your family. The social workers will then prepare a written report on circumstances for the court.
Finally, the court will decide on the child’s custody.
As a rule, the child's guardians - both the custodial and non-custodial parent - have the right to access information on matters related to the child, including those matters on which they do not have the right to make decisions.
The right to access information refers to the right to access confidential information about the child from the authorities and companies. If the child’s other guardian or child has a non-disclosure order for personal safety reasons, this may limit the information that the guardian has access to.
A parent who is not the child’s guardian does not automatically have the right to access information. The parents can agree on the non-guardian parent’s right of access to information with the child welfare supervisor, or the non-guardian parent will need a get a court decision in order to have the right to access information.
In a joint custody agreement, the guardians and parents can decide on who else other than guardians has the right to access information on matters concerning the child. The right to access information may be given, for example to:
A joint custody agreement or a court’s decision on joint custody will also affect who can act on behalf of a child in e-services or view the child’s data in official e-services.
As a rule, official e-services should comply with the joint custody agreement and, accordingly, grant the right to act on behalf of the child and to have access to the child’s data. However, this is not always the case in practice. A joint custody agreement or joint custody decision may prevent guardians from using e-services on behalf of the child or from accessing the child’s information.
If a guardian is unable to act on behalf of the child, it is advisable to first log in to the My Information section of Suomi.fi and view Register data to see whether custody is entered correctly in the guardian’s data. If the guardianship and custody information has been entered correctly in the register data, the guardian should ask the party providing the e-service about the restrictions on e-services (e.g. Kela or the wellbeing services county they live in).