Not necessarily. Whether both parents need to agree to therapy depends entirely on what your custody agreement specifies. Custody arrangements vary significantly from family to family. Some custody orders grant one parent sole legal custody, which typically means that parent alone has the authority to make major decisions about the child's education, medical care, and mental health treatment. Other arrangements require joint legal custody, where both parents must agree on these significant decisions, including whether to begin therapy.

There are also situations where parents share joint legal custody but the agreement specifies certain exceptions or gives one parent decision-making authority in specific areas, such as mental health care. Some agreements require consultation but not necessarily agreement, while others have detailed provisions about how disagreements should be resolved. This is why we need to review the complete custody documentation—to understand exactly what your specific agreement requires.

Our role is not to determine what should happen or take sides in custody matters. We simply need to understand and follow what the court has already ordered. Once we review your documentation, we can explain clearly whether one or both parents need to consent to treatment, and we can guide you through the next steps based on your unique situation.

Custody and consent provisions are often scattered throughout legal documents rather than contained in a single, easy-to-find section. Important details about who can consent to mental health treatment might appear in the legal custody section, the decision-making authority section, provisions about medical care, or even in modification orders or addendums. Information about required communication between parents, notification timelines, and dispute resolution procedures can be found in multiple places throughout the document. If we only review selected pages, we risk missing critical information that affects how we provide care to your child.

Additionally, the complete document provides context that partial excerpts cannot. For example, one section might grant joint legal custody, but another section later in the document might specify exceptions for mental health treatment. Or an amendment to the original decree might have changed the provisions entirely. We also need to verify that the document is official and legally binding by confirming it includes all required signatures, including the judge's signature and court seal, along with any file stamps or certification marks.

We understand that custody documents can be lengthy—sometimes 20, 30, or even more pages—and it may seem excessive to provide everything. However, this thoroughness protects you and your child. By reviewing the complete document, we ensure we are following the exact terms of your court order, which prevents potential legal complications and helps avoid conflicts between parents about whether treatment was properly authorized.

Unfortunately, no, we need the complete document from beginning to end. While we certainly understand the desire to simplify the process by sending only the relevant sections, custody and consent provisions often appear in multiple locations throughout legal documents, and extracting just certain pages could cause us to miss legally binding information. What might seem like "just the custody pages" may not include subsequent modifications, specific provisions about mental health treatment, or important details about parental notification and communication requirements.

Additionally, we have a professional and legal obligation to verify the authenticity and completeness of the documentation we receive. When we receive only selected pages, we cannot confirm whether there are additional provisions, amendments, or modifications that affect the sections we're reviewing. Court orders are also sometimes modified over time through separate orders, and without seeing the full document trail, we might be working with outdated or incomplete information.

We know it can feel like extra work to scan or copy an entire decree, especially when you are already managing the stress of seeking help for your child. However, providing the complete document—including all pages, signatures, and any modifications or amendments—is the only way we can ensure we have the full picture. This protects you from potential legal complications and ensures your child's treatment begins on solid legal footing.

Please provide the most recent version of your custody agreement or divorce decree that you have access to, regardless of how old it is. Many custody agreements remain in effect for years or even until the child reaches adulthood, so an "old" agreement is often still the legally binding document that governs parental rights and responsibilities. What matters most is whether the agreement is still in effect, not when it was originally created.

However, if there have been any modifications, amended orders, supplemental orders, or new rulings since your original decree was issued, those must be included as well. Sometimes parents return to court to modify custody arrangements, change decision-making authority, or update provisions about education, medical care, or relocation. These modifications can significantly change who has the authority to consent to mental health treatment, so we need to see the complete picture of your current legal situation, not just the original agreement.

If you are unsure whether your custody agreement has been modified, or if you know modifications exist but are having difficulty locating them, we recommend contacting the court where your case was heard or consulting with your family law attorney. Most courts maintain records of all orders and modifications. If you are currently in the process of modifying your custody agreement, please let us know, as this may affect the timeline for beginning treatment.

We do not routinely share custody documents with the other parent. Any divorce decree or custody order you provide is maintained as part of your child's confidential clinical record and is used solely to verify consent authority and understand communication or notification requirements related to treatment.

That said, if both parents have legal rights to access the child's records, applicable law may require us to provide copies of records contained in the file upon a proper request. This could include custody documentation if it is part of the clinical record. In most cases, the other parent already has access to these documents through the court system.

Importantly, providing access to records is not the same as proactively sending documents. We do not release information or records unless legally required to do so, such as in response to a valid written request, court order, or subpoena, and we follow all applicable state and federal privacy laws when responding to such requests.

Separately, some custody orders require that both parents be notified when mental health treatment begins or allow both parents access to treatment information. If your custody agreement includes these provisions, we are legally obligated to follow them. This may affect what information is shared, but it does not mean we automatically provide copies of custody documents to the other parent.

If you have concerns about the other parent's rights or what information they may be entitled to receive, we are happy to review your custody documentation with you and explain how it impacts consent, communication, and access to records so there are no surprises.

Without confirmation of legal consent through proper custody documentation, we are unable to begin or continue mental health treatment with a minor child. This is not a choice our practice is making to be difficult—it is a legal and ethical requirement that we must follow to maintain our professional licenses and protect all parties involved. Providing therapy without proper consent authority could expose our clinicians to professional discipline, legal liability, and potential criminal charges in some circumstances. More importantly, it could put your family at risk of legal complications and potentially invalidate the therapeutic work we do with your child.

We understand this requirement can feel like a barrier, especially when your child needs help urgently. However, this protection exists for good reasons. It prevents situations where one parent seeks treatment for a child without the knowledge or consent of another parent who has legal rights to make that decision. It also protects children from being placed in the middle of parental conflicts about treatment. By ensuring we have proper authorization from the start, we create a stable foundation for therapy that serves your child's best interests.

If you are having difficulty obtaining your custody documentation—for example, if you have lost your copy, cannot locate all the pages, or are unsure where to find modification orders—please let us know. We can often suggest resources for obtaining these documents from the court or provide guidance on next steps. In urgent situations where a child is experiencing a mental health crisis, we can discuss crisis resources and emergency services while you work on gathering the necessary documentation for ongoing treatment.

Yes, absolutely. This is a universal requirement for all families where parents are divorced, separated, legally separated, or have any type of custody arrangement or court order in place—regardless of whether the arrangement is amicable, contentious, or somewhere in between. We ask every family in this situation to provide complete custody documentation before beginning treatment with a minor child. This policy applies consistently across all of our clients, with no exceptions based on individual circumstances, how cooperative parents appear to be, or how straightforward a situation might seem.

This standard requirement exists because we cannot make assumptions about custody arrangements based on conversations, appearances, or what parents tell us. Even when both parents are cooperating beautifully and both agree that therapy is needed, we still need to verify the legal framework through official documentation. Custody situations can be complex, and what parents believe about their agreement sometimes differs from what the court order actually says. Additionally, circumstances can change—a cooperative relationship today might become contentious tomorrow, and having proper documentation from the start protects everyone involved.

We want to be very clear that requesting this documentation is not a reflection of concerns about you as a parent, suspicions about your situation, or doubts about what you have told us. It is simply our standard operating procedure, grounded in legal requirements and professional best practices. Every mental health practice that serves children with divorced or separated parents should be asking for this same documentation—and if they are not, they may be exposing themselves and their clients to unnecessary legal risk.

We are happy to talk through this process with you at any time, and we encourage you to reach out if you have questions, concerns, or need clarification on any aspect of our custody documentation requirements. You can contact our office by phone at (972) 989-7655 or by email at info@sagemindscounseling.com, and our administrative team can address many common questions immediately. For more complex situations or specific concerns about your unique custody arrangement, we can schedule a brief consultation with one of our clinicians to discuss your situation in more detail.

Common situations where families reach out for guidance include: uncertainty about whether their specific type of custody arrangement requires documentation, difficulty locating or obtaining their complete custody documents, questions about what happens when custody agreements are currently being modified, concerns about how to handle situations where the other parent may not be aware of the therapy, and questions about what information the other parent will be entitled to receive about treatment. We have experience working with all types of custody situations and can help you navigate the documentation process.

We want to emphasize that our goal is to make this process as simple and stress-free as possible while maintaining our legal and ethical obligations. We are not here to create barriers to your child receiving care—we are here to ensure that care can proceed smoothly within the proper legal framework. If you are feeling overwhelmed by this requirement or frustrated with the process, please share that with us. We can often provide resources, suggest solutions, or simply offer reassurance that many families have successfully worked through this same process. Your child's mental health and well-being are our priority, and we are committed to supporting your family every step of the way.