Pennsylvania’s Child Custody law applies to married parents, married but separated parents, and parents who have never been married. The law may also apply to biological and non-biological parents.

In 2011 Pennsylvania amended the legal standard for awarding child custody by establishing 15-plus standards on which the deciding court must base a custody decision. By showing the court a pattern of parenting behavior that meets these standards in the custody law, divorced and separated parents can find a path to custody and a meaningful role in the raising of their children.

Factors Used by Pennsylvania Courts When Awarding Child Custody:

1. Which party is more likely to encourage and permit frequent and continuing contact between the child and another party
2. Present and past abuse committed by a party or a member of the party’s household, whether there is a continued risk of harm to the child or an abused party, and which party can provide adequate physical safeguards and supervision of the child
3. The parental duties performed by each party on behalf of the child
4. The need for stability and continuity in the child’s education, family life and community life
5. The availability of the extended family
6. The child’s sibling relationships
7. The well-reasoned preference of the child, based on the child’s maturity and judgment
8. The attempts of a parent to turn the child against the other parent, except in cases of domestic violence, where reasonable safety measures are necessary to protect the child from harm
9. Which party is more likely to maintain a loving, stable, consistent and nurturing relationship with the child, adequate for the child’s emotional needs
10. Which party is more likely to attend to the daily physical, emotional, developmental, educational, and special needs of the child
11. The proximity of the residences of the parties
12. Each party’s availability to care for the child or ability to make appropriate child-care arrangements
13. The level of conflict between the parties and the willingness and ability of the parties to cooperate with one another. A party’s effort to protect a child from abuse or another party is not evidence of unwillingness or inability to cooperate with that other party
14. The history of drug or alcohol abuse by a party or a member of a party’s household
15. The mental or physical condition of a party or a member
16. Any other relevant factor