The mother of my child is not letting me my child due to an incident that occurred before the lockdown. I took my 2 year old son to an birthday party with minimal of 3 children and 6 adults, the party was limited due to the fact of the outbreak of the coronavirus and wanted to make sure her 6 year old daughter birthday party was safe and even had head temperature thermometers, alcohol based hand sanitizer and everything you can think of to make sure we were safe. The mother of my child instructed I did not take him out but me knowing the circumstances and never taking my child to a birthday party and having the experience I went ahead and did it due to it was highly safe for kids and adults and party was limited to no more than 9 people in the home. Now lets fast forward to today where I am suppose to see my child due to a court order every Wednesday between 5pm - 7pm and every other weekend. Would Ohio's law effect and hinder me from seeing my child? Would this interfere and not allow me to see my child? The mother of my child is basically taken advantage of the lockdown and I do not see anything restricting split parents from being able to see their child.
The Governor's Stay at Home order, section 14(e) specifically designates essential travel to include travel required by a court order including to transport children pursuant to a custody agreement. Thus, you two may travel to transport the child pursuant to a court order for parenting time such as that you listed. Additionally, some counties have listed on their websites specific instructions in regards to this pandemic as it relates to child-related issues. You may wish to check with the applicable county as to how they have instructed parties to comply with their current orders. I would advise speaking to a local attorney to review your options for filing a motion for contempt and attorney fees for violating the parenting time order if she continues to withhold your child.
I tend to agree in general with the answer provided to you. Take time to find the actual Order issued by Ohio. There is an allowance for immediate family. However, if a parent is allowing a child to visit with a ton of different relatives etc during what is supposed to be 'parenting time,' that, could be an issue.
The current "stay at home" order does not effect custody arrangements in place handed down by a court. In short, if she prevents you from having your parenting time, she would be in violation of the court order and you could file with the court asking she be held in contempt.
