• Inmate fathers may have visits with their children.child image by DXfoto.com from Fotolia.com
  
  Kentucky fathers who are incarcerated may still want to maintain relationships with their children, whether through visitation or by providing financial support while in prison. As with all family law issues involving children, the court will decide what would be in the child's best interests. Inmate fathers should learn about their parental rights and responsibilities under Kentucky law.
  
  

Child Custody

• Kentucky has two types of child custody: legal custody and residential custody. Parents who have legal custody take part in decision-making related to their child's life---the court will usually award joint legal custody to both parents and only order sole custody for one parent if the other parent has substance abuse problems or the other parent cannot be found. The child will mostly live in the home of the parent with residential custody. While residential custody is generally not possible while the father is in prison, he might be able to retain joint legal custody of the child if the court finds it in the child's best interests.
  
  

Visitation

• When one parent has residential custody of the child, the other parent usually receives some visitation rights. According to a Kentucky appellate court ruling, a court cannot deny visitation to a father simply because he is incarcerated---rather, the party trying to prevent visitation must overcome the presumption that father-child visitation would be in the child's best interests. The Kentucky Department of Corrections offers Fathers and Children Together (FACT), a program at Blackburn Correctional Complex that provides parenting classes and facilitates visitation between inmate fathers and their children.
  
  

Child Support

• According to the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services, an inmate father may still have to pay child support while in prison, even if he currently does not have any income. If the father has income or assets the state can liquidate, levy or attach to a current child support order, the child support payments may continue. The state focuses on protecting the child's interests.
  
  

Termination of Parental Rights

• An inmate father may worry that the state can terminate his parental rights by court order while he is in prison. The court can order termination of parental rights over the father's objection if the court finds it would be in the child's best interests, such as if the parent has neglected the child and cannot change the situation quickly enough. The father has a right to contest a termination petition and must receive a court-appointed attorney to assist him if he cannot afford one on his own. If the father has ever been convicted of physical or sexual abuse of a child or child neglect, the court can consider that information in a termination proceeding.