Protecting Your Child from Your Former Spouse

November 10th, 2025 by Tiffany Hughes

If you are fearful that your child is in danger from your former spouse or will be put into danger when your spouse has parenting time with your child, there are options for you to take to safeguard your child.

How do I Protect my Child from my Abusive Ex?

If you fear that your former spouse will harm you or your child, one option is filing a Petition for  Order of Protection that includes the minor child as a protected party. The Order that the Court issues as a result of the filing for a Petition for Order of Protection is an order of protection. An order of protection is an order issued by the court that can provide protection for you and your child. Or you if you would prefer the order of protection only protect your child and not include yourself, you can file an order of protection on behalf of your child if they are not of an age to file for themselves. Obtaining an order of protection can be difficult because it has a high burden that needs to be met, largely due to the effect it has on a party’s parenting schedule and parental rights.

How do I restrict my Ex’s parenting time for my child’s safety?

If the danger posed by your former spouse is not severe enough for an order of protection to be necessary or doesn’t reach the level or burden required to be successful, in the alternative you can petition the court to place restrictions on the parenting time of your current or former spouse. Typically, parenting time will be restricted when a parents current parenting time is deemed to be a danger to the child’s well-being and best interests.

In Illinois, parents of children are presumed to be fit to take care of their children. However, if it is shown that a child is in danger that presumption will be rebutted. The Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act provides criteria for restricting parenting time, specifically, that if a party shows by a preponderance of the evidence that a parent engaged in any conduct that seriously endangered the child’s mental, moral or physical health or that significantly impaired the child’s emotional development, the court will restrict the parent in questions parenting time and decision making as necessary to protect the child in questions.

How do I request supervised parenting time?

Supervised parenting time is a form of restricting parenting time, while still allowing for the party to be allocated parenting time. If you are requesting that the other party have supervised parenting time, you still need to show by a preponderance of the evidence that a parent engaged in any conduct that seriously endangered the child’s mental, moral or physical health or that significantly impaired the child’s emotional development. However, instead of completely restricting the other party’s parenting time, seeking supervised parenting time can sometimes avoid a long, drawn out custody battle by modifying a custody agreement and allocating supervised parenting time instead of restricting all parenting time.

Need More Information or Representation?

If you are looking to protect your child from your ex, give The Law Office of Tiffany M. Hughes, P.C. a call today at 773-893-0228 for a confidential, complimentary 30-minute phone consultation or email Tiffany Hughes directly at Tiffanyhughes@thugheslaw.com. Our entire practice is solely dedicated to the area of family law. We are highly experienced in providing legal representation to anyone who is getting a divorce, is the custodial parent, is engaged in a custody battle, is wanting to restrict their ex’s parenting time for the child’s safety, wants to know the criteria for restricting parenting time, is requesting supervised parenting time, wants to modify a custody agreement or parenting schedule, or is wanting to know more about parental rights, the difference between allocating and restricting parenting time, or anything else regarding the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act.

About Tiffany M. Hughes, Divorce Attorney, Principal, Managing Partner, The Law Office of Tiffany M. Hughes, P.C.:

Tiffany M. Hughes is a divorce attorney and Managing Partner of The Law office of Tiffany M. Hughes. Recognized as a Top 100 Lawyer in Lawyers Magazine in 2018 and 2019, Super Lawyer from 2016 to date, and in addition to numerous other accolades, Ms. Hughes represents individuals in all aspects of family and matrimonial law proceedings, including litigation, mediation, allocation of parental responsibility (formerly known as custody), parentage, divorce and other child-related matters.

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