Hello Denzil, well typically the child resides with the custodial parent. the term custodial parent is used for the parent that has primary and physical custody of the child and the non-custodial parent is one that has the child for a lesser period of time. In general the child does not reside with the non-custodial parents and the non-custodial parent has visitation rights only.. All the decisions regarding the child is taken by the custodial parent. It is entirely his/her discretion to take the non-custodial parents views too.