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→Key legal concepts about parenting after separation
==Key legal concepts about parenting after separation==
Figuring out the legal concepts relating to parenting after separation got a lot easier after the federal ''[[Divorce Act]]'' changed was updated on 1 March 1, 2021. Before it changed, the ''Divorce Act'' talked about parenting after separation in terms of "custody" and "access," which were a difficult fit with the provincial ''[[Family Law Act]]'', which uses terms like "parental responsibilities," "parenting time" and "contact." Now the ''Divorce Act'' uses the terms "decision-making responsibilities," which are a lot like parental responsibilities, as well as "parenting time" and "contact." However, it's still only the ''Family Law Act'' that talks about "''guardianship''," and that's because making laws about guardianship is a provincial responsibility. Still, the harmony between the approach to parenting after separation by the ''Divorce Act'' with the approach taken by the ''Family Law Act'' is very welcome. It makes things a lot easier for separated and separating parents.
===Guardianship===
Under British Columbia's old ''Family Relations Act'', which was the law in this province before the ''Family Law Act'' was introduced in 2013, separated parents would ask for orders appointing them as the guardians of their children, along with orders about having custody of their children. Parents could be the "sole guardians" of their children, which meant that only they could make decisions on behalf of their children, or have "joint guardianship" of their children, which meant that both of them were responsible for making decisions on behalf of their children. The ''Family Law Act'' changed this. Instead of having to be appointed as the guardians of their children after separation, parents are usually presumed to be their children's guardians , both while their relationship is intact ''and'' after separation, butthey separate. And, just like in under the old days''Family Relations Act'', people who are not the parents of a child can still be appointed as a guardian of the child. Since not all parents are automatically the guardians of their children, and since people other than parents can still be made the guardians of a child, this means that what's important under the ''Family Law Act'' is being a ''guardian'', not being a ''parent''.
Under the ''Family Law Act'', people who are the guardians of a child have "parental responsibilities" for the child and "parenting time" with the child, whether a guardian is a parent or someone else. The rights and responsibilities are the same. A parent who is ''not'' a guardian of their child may have "contact" with their child, but does not have parental responsibilities for their child or parenting time with their child. We'll talk about these concepts in more detail in this section and in the other sections in this chapter.
Under the ''Family Law Act'', agreements, awards and orders about parenting time or parental responsibilities are called ''parenting arrangements''.
==Children's caregivers and extended family==