Supervised Visitation
There are times when a California divorce or family law judge will order what is known as supervised child visitation. Supervised child visitation occurs usually under two circumstances, as follows:
1) When one parent raises serious concerns about the other parent’s ability to care for a child which jeopardizes the child’s safety;
2) When one parent has been absent from the child’s life for a significant period of time, and the child does not really know that parent.
In either of these circumstances, one of the child’s parents can request supervised child visitation. If you are the parent in a California child visitation divorce or family law case, and you want the other parent’s visitation to be supervised, on the basis that your child is not safe with the other parent, be prepared to present admissible evidence in court to prove what it is the other parent does or doesn’t do, that puts your child or children at risk, so as to justify a judge ordering supervised visitation. Supervised child visitation claims can be expensive to litigate and can cause for a very “sterile” visitation environment. A request for supervised child visitation should not be made lightly or with insufficient proof.
A California child visitation divorce or family law court may suspect that a parent who seeks supervised visitation for the other parent without adequate proof is attempting to interfere with the other parent’s relationship with his or child or children. Parents who are suspected of unjustifiably interfering with the other parent’s relationship with the child or children, are viewed negatively by California child visitation divorce or family law judges. California child visitation divorce and family law courts encourage parental interaction.
If you are seeking supervised visitation in a California child visitation divorce or family law case, and after considering your evidence it appears your request is appropriate, you will need an experienced and knowledgeable California divorce or family law attorney who will present and advocate your position in a convincing and understandable manner.
Nathan James, of SEIFER, MURKEN, DESPINA, JAMES and TEICHMAN ALC will assist you in presenting the best set of facts, evidence and case possible to enable you to seek a supervised child visitation order and convince the court that an order for supervised child visitation is appropriate and in your child’s best interest. Your request for supervised child visitation may be made at the initial child visitation hearing or at a later hearing where you may be seeking to modify an existing California child visitation divorce or family law order. Nathan James is certified by the State Bar of California as a specialist in family law. He represents parents in California child visitation divorce or family law matters, including high conflict child custody and visitation cases. Nathan James represents either the custodial or noncustodial parent seeking or opposing supervised child visitation orders in the California family law courts in San Francisco, Marin, San Mateo, Alameda and the other nine bay area counties.
Can I Have The Other Parent’s Visitation Supervised?
Unless there is a history of domestic violence, sexual abuse, drug and/or alcohol abuse, or a pattern of otherwise harmful behavior toward the child, or a parent that has been absent from the child’s life for a considerable time, the court will not likely order supervised visitation. The court will not resort to such drastic measures in response to your general report of bad parenting. To order supervised visitation, a judge must be convinced that the child is at risk when alone withthe parent in question or the child doesn’t know that parent.
If you can prove that the other parent has caused your child to suffer, or that he or she has exposed your child to dangerous situations while in his or her care, or has friends or acquaintances that put your child at risk, Nathan James, of SEIFER, MURKEN, DESPINA, JAMES and TEICHMAN ALC can help you prove that supervised child visitation is in your child’s best interest. There are many factors a California child visitation divorce or family law court will consider when weighing whether or not to impose supervised child visitation, including, but not limited to, the age of your child; the types of dangerous situations your child has been exposed to; the number of dangerous situations your child has been exposed; the types of individuals the other parent is exposing your child or children to; and many other factors.
In California child visitation divorce or family law cases the prevailing policy is that both parents are to have frequent and continuing contact with his or her child or children. In order for one parent to convince a court that supervised visitation is appropriate that parent has a significant burden. If however, you meet that burden and present evidence that your child is not safe with the other parent, then a California child visitation divorce or family law judge can issue an order that includes any of the following:
1) That the other parent have no contact at all with the child or children.
2) That the other parent only visit with the child or children in a supervised setting. There are many ways to provide for a supervised setting, including visitation at a house of an adult relative, or visitation while a third party supervisor is present.
3) That no other persons be present during the visitation.
4) That the exchange of the child or children be done in public places or at the child’s preschool or regular school.
5) If anger or substance abuse is the reason for supervised visits, anger management or substance abuse counseling and treatment.
6) Prohibiting the use of alcohol, illegal drugs or prescribed medication while the children are with the other parent.
7) Parenting classes.
8) Individual psychological or behavioral counseling.
Parents should realize that supervised visitation will, in many cases, require them to hire a third party supervisor. There is a facility in San Francisco--The Rally Project--that offers supervised visitation at reasonable prices. I recommend places like The Rally Project because it provides personnel who monitor the supervised visits and actually write reports that are used by the court at a later date when deciding whether to modify supervised visitation to non-supervised visitation. Another alternative to implement a court ordered child supervised visitation order is for the parents to hire a third-party who can supervise the visits or for the visits to occur at a relative’s house while the relative is present.
As stated above, courts will order supervised visitation in a California child visitation divorce or family law case when the child’s safety is at issue or when a parent has been out of a child’s life for a significant period of time. If supervised visitation is ordered and if after the passage of time the parent whose visits are supervised, can demonstrate that his or her child or children are safe in his or her care or the child is sufficiently familiar with that parent, it is likely that a court will remove the supervision aspect from the child visitation order.