36-6-110 - Rights of non-custodial parents. - Tennessee Statutes

36-6-110. Rights of non-custodial parents.

(a)  Except when the juvenile court or other appropriate court finds it not to be in the best interests of the affected child, upon petition by a non-custodial, biological parent for whom parental rights have not been terminated, the court shall grant the following parental rights:

     (1)  The right to unimpeded telephone conversations with the child at least twice a week at reasonable times and for reasonable durations;

     (2)  The right to send mail to the child, that the custodial parent or guardian shall not open or censor;

     (3)  The right to receive notice and relevant information as soon as practicable but within twenty-four (24) hours of any event of hospitalization, major illness or death of the child;

     (4)  The right to receive directly from the child's school copies of the child's report cards, attendance records, names of teachers, class schedules, standardized test scores, and any other records customarily made available to parents, upon written request that includes a current mailing address and upon payment of reasonable costs of duplication;

     (5)  The right to receive copies of the child's medical records directly from the child's doctor or other health care provider, upon written request that contains a current mailing address and upon payment of reasonable costs of duplication; and

     (6)  The right to be free of unwarranted derogatory remarks about the non-custodial, biological parent, or such parent's family, made by the custodial parent or guardian to or in the presence of the child.

(b)  Any of the foregoing rights may be denied in whole or in part by the court upon a showing that such denial is in the best interests of the child.

[Acts 1998, ch. 1087, § 1.]