Therapeutic Visitation vs. Supervised Visitation

Therapeutic Visitation vs. Supervised Visitation

Supervised visitation occurs when the Court recognizes that there is a concern for the child’s safety – visits can be supervised by a family member, a paid individual or if the need arises, a paid professional of some kind.

Therapeutic visitation – visits occur under the direction of a mental health clinician when the Court has recognized that there is a mental health issue present and/or the child is at risk of experiencing a mental health issue during the visitation process.

• Serious mental illness of the noncustodial parent
• History of abuse of the child and/or custodial parent by the noncustodial parent
• Vindictive behavior occurring toward the child on the part of one parent that is having a damaging effect on the child’s perception of the other parent (i.e., alienation process)
• Past arrest of the noncustodial parent for antisocial behavior toward people in the family and/or disobedience with court orders during the custody proceedings
• History of abuse that has had a direct impact upon the child (i.e., physical, mental, emotional, sexual, drug or alcohol misuse, etc.)
• Persistent violation of/or interference with custody or visitation orders
• Threats of/or past abductions
• Attempts by noncustodial parent to impose religious views on a child against the custodial parent’s wishes
• Ongoing (post-divorce) parental conflict produced by the noncustodial parent, that is having a detrimental effect on the child
• Prolonged absence of the noncustodial parent from the child’s life (i.e., reintroduction) – little or no contact between the noncustodial parent and the child for an extended period of time (i.e., longer than six months) followed by an attempt to re-establish contact
• An alienated child who is strongly allied with the custodial parent, taking on the parent’s identity as a victim and retaliator, and thus, consciously or unconsciously, appropriately or inappropriately viewing the noncustodial
• Parent as dangerous or damaging