Child custody and legal guardianship are legal terms which are used to describe the legal and practical relationship between a parent or guardian and a child in that person’s care, such as the right to make decisions on behalf of a child and the duty to care for and support the child.

Following ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child in most countries, terms such as parental responsibility, “residence” and “contact” (also known as “visitation”, “conservatorship” or “parenting time” in the United States) have superseded the concepts of “custody” and “access” in some member nations. Instead of a parent having “custody” of or “access” to a child, a child is now said to “reside” or have “contact” with a parent.