Padre o madre sin custodia

Within the United States, family law differs from state to state, and noncustodial parents are a diverse population, with many factors affecting custody arrangements, from which parent is awarded custody to negotiating visitation schedules. A noncustodial may have difficulty in accessing medical records, educational status and other information regarding their child, but there is some federal legislation which supports the rights of a noncustodial parent who retains legal custody of their child.

Student education records are official and confidential documents protected within the United States by strong privacy protection laws, most notably the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).^[3] FERPA, also known as the Buckley Amendment, defines education records as all records that schools or education agencies maintain about students. FERPA gives parents the right to review and confirm the accuracy of education records and applies to public schools and state or local education agencies that receive Federal education funds, both paper and computerized records. In addition to the Federal laws that restrict disclosure of information from student records, most states also have privacy protection laws that reinforce FERPA. State laws can supplement FERPA, but compliance with FERPA is necessary if schools are to continue to be eligible to receive Federal education funds.

FERPA gives both parents, custodial and noncustodial, equal access to student information unless the school has evidence of a court order or state law revoking these rights. When students reach the age of 18, or when they become students at postsecondary education institutions, they become "eligible students" and rights under FERPA transfer to them. However, parents retain access to student records of children who are their dependents for tax purposes.

In the case of divorce or separation, a school district must provide access to both natural parents, custodial and non-custodial, unless there is a legally binding document that specifically removes that parent's FERPA rights. Custody or other residential arrangements for a child do not, by themselves, affect the FERPA rights of the child's parents. One can best understand the FERPA position on parents' rights by separating the concept of custody from the concept of rights that FERPA gives parents. Custody, as a legal concept, establishes where a child will live, and often, the duties of the person(s) with whom the child lives. The FERPA, on the other hand, simply establishes the parents' right of access to and control of education record related to the child.

Por lo general, una escuela no está obligada a proporcionar a los padres copias de los expedientes. Sin embargo, si la distancia es lo suficientemente grande como para que resulte impracticable que el padre visite la escuela para revisar el expediente, la escuela debe hacer copias del expediente y enviárselas al padre cuando este solicite acceso al mismo. ^{[ 4 ]}