Aaron Robb, M.Ed., NCC, LPC-S

Supervised Visitation

Supervised Visitation - Overview

"Supervised Visitation refers to contact between a non-custodial parent and one or more children in the presence of a third person responsible for observing and seeking to ensure the safety of those involved."

From the SVN's "Information for Parents"

Forensic Counseling Services is a member of the Supervised Visitation Network and is committed to providing services that meet and exceed recognized professional standards for supervised visitation. We coordinate a number of trained staff who supervise visits in the community, often at a parent's home or other child-friendly location. All case management and administrative functions are handled though our main office. Our goal in providing Supervised Visitation is to minimize the emotional hardship that children frequently have to endure as a result of custody litigation, while allowing them to maintain safe and positive contact with their parents and other significant relatives.

While there may be many allegations made between parents in custody litigation, the staff at Forensic Counseling Services strive to provide a neutral, non-judgmental, and respectful environment for parents who use our services. We do provide referral services for issues related to domestic violence, substance abuse, and other difficulties that might impair a parent's relationship with their children, however our focus in providing Supervised Visitation is on ensuring that children can have safe and positive contact with their parents.

Effects of Conflict on Children

The statistics regarding the effects of family conflict (both physical and emotional) on children are staggering. 43% of all critical injuries and child fatalities occur in homes where there is spousal abuse [The Family Place Community Report]. Children who witness or are subjected to emotional or physical violence are at risk for developmental delays, lack of social competency, and poor impulse control and anger management skills. They may feel isolated from friends and family and guilty over irrational feelings of responsibility for the family difficulties. They can be confused, angry, nervous, or attention seeking - often all at the same time. Abused and neglected children are 6 times more likely to commit suicide, 50 times more likely to abuse alcohol or other drugs, and 74 times more likely to engage in crimes against persons than their non-abused counterparts [The Heritage Foundation "The Child Abuse Crisis: The Disintegration of Marriage, Family, and the American Community].

Supervised Visitation exists to serve as a prevention program. Regardless of the nature of the allegations involved in the custody litigation, we try to help children remain safe and secure, while still maintaining contact with the parents and family members they love. Parents can prevent revisiting disputes with former partners and escape conflict by avoiding direct confrontation with the other party in the litigation. Children can avoid watching their parents continue the difficulties which may have been the cause for their separation in the first place, and stay out of the middle of the adult disputes which may be continuing in the courthouse.

Initiating Services

We provide Supervised Visitation for clients who have either been ordered by the court to participate or have a formal written agreement for supervised contact.

The first step in registration is to obtain a court order or agreement for all parties to utilize our Supervised Visitation services. The order or agreement should specifically name "Forensic Counseling Services" as the supervision provider.

The next step is to download and complete the various intake forms. If you are unable to download these forms they can be faxed to you or your attorney.

After you have completed the intake forms mail them to us, along with your registration fees and a copy of the court order or agreement for services. See our contact page for our mailing address. We will contact you to schedule an appointment for an orientation session. Due to the discussion of adult information during orientation children may not be present during the orientation session.

Once all parties have completed registration, we will schedule a Supervised Visitation session based on our supervisors' availability and the court order or agreement.

EACH PARTY INVOLVED MUST COMPLETE THE FULL REGISTRATION PROCESS BEFORE A VISITATION TIME WILL BE SCHEDULED.

Parties will be notified through their attorneys once a regular visitation schedule has been established. Pro se parties will be notified directly.

Any changes to the schedule by the parties, once a regular appointment time is established, must be court ordered or agreed on between the parties.

If we are providing Supervised Visitation services we cannot serve as a mediator or intermediary between parents who request changes in scheduled visitation. We also cannot serve in any other role for the family (Parenting Coordinator, Social Study Evaluator, etc.).

Please be advised that we may not be able to accommodate all requests for schedule changes due to the other cases we are also providing services for.