Supervised Access to Children in DV Cases

1
Supervised Access to Children in DV Cases

• Elizabeth B. Brandt
• James E. Rogers Distinguished Professor
• University of Idaho College of Law

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What is Supervised Access

• Supervised Custody Exchanges
• Often ordered in cases where contact between
  parents could be volatile or unsafe.
• Supervised Parenting Time
• Often ordered in cases where parents conduct
  toward the child is question such as where there
  are allegations of abuse, or where parents
  conduct may jeopardize the safety of the children.

3
Why Supervised Access

• Move away from sole custody awards/Presumption in
  favor of joint custody
• Demographic changes often no extended family
  support when parents cant function
• Politicization of custody womens and mens
  rights
• Difficulty for courts of sorting out problems
  between the parents that affect kids
• Growing awareness of DV

4
Legal Framework for Supervised Access

• Inherent power of courts to act in the best
  interests of children led to judicially order
  access supervision
• Idaho Rule 16(o)
• Most courts or states have not articulated a
  standard for when supervised access should be
  awarded beyond the best interests standard.

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Standards for ordering Supervised Access

• Unsupervised access would endanger the childs
  physical health or impair his or her emotional
  development
• Supervised access presumed where a parent has
  been convicted of certain sex offenses or
  criminal child abuse
• Supervised Visitation required when parent has a
  history of perpetrating DV

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Who Provides Supervision

• Trained supervised access coordinators
• Usually in facility that is appropriate for
  children
• Even with minimal training supervisor has tools
  to help in emergencies
• Therapeutic service providers
• The biggest issue here is whether the provision
  of supervised access is inconsistent with
  therapist/patient relationship
• Can assist parent and child in managing
  relationship in a healthy way
• Third party volunteers (such as students)
• Often part of University Program the open
  question is how much training students receive.
• Family members and other volunteers who know the
  children
• Familiar environment for children
• Often the most risky form of supervision no
  training of accountability fo supervisors

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Benefits of Supervised Access

• Provides options for child safety while competing
  allegations in custody cases are being evaluated
• If contact is to be ordered between a DV
  perpetrator and his children, provides a safe
  mechanism for exchange of children
• Can be used to ease out of a dysfunctional parent
  child relationship or re-establish a parent child
  relationship that has been interrupted

8
Potential Problems

• Supervised Access as the magic bullet solution
• Can be used as a weapon to continue a pattern of
  power and control by a DV perpetrator against a
  victim
• We do not know what the impact of long term
  supervision is on kids well-being