The allocation of parental responsibilities, often referred to as "child custody", is the process of awarding childcare responsibilities to different caretakers.
A custody arrangement becomes legally-binding through a parenting plan once approved by a judge in court.
Oftentimes, only one caretaker is given primary custody of a child. The caretaker with primary custody is called the custodial parent. The legal parent that is not given primary custody is the child's non-custodial parent.
Alternatively, two parents can be given joint-custody of a child.