The information in this program outline is provided by the program representative and edited by the CEBC staff. The Family Visitation Center program has been reviewed by the CEBC in the area of: Supervised Visitation, but lacks the necessary research evidence to be given a Scientific Rating.

• Types of Maltreatment: Physical Abuse, Sexual Abuse, Physical Neglect, Emotional Abuse, Exposure to Domestic Violence
• Target Population: Victims of child abuse and neglect as well as victims of domestic violence.

The Family Visitation Center provides supervised visitations and exchanges, in addition to support services such as parenting classes. Visitation services are based on a court order as well as the Family Visitation Center's assessment of the level of care needed for each family. The different levels of care are regular supervised visitation, therapeutic supervised visitation, and off-site visitation. Trained staff is present to monitor all interaction between the children and the non-custodial parent(s) and to provide feedback to the parents. Staff also record all parent-child interactions and report back to the Court per court order. To ensure safety of the clients and staff, the Family Visitation Center is set up with separate parking facilities, entrances, waiting rooms and staggered arrival and departure times for the custodial and non-custodial parties so the parties never see each other before, during, or after the visit or exchange.

• Referrals are received from both Family Court and Juvenile Court.
• A safe and supportive environment is provided to allow non-custodial parents to have access to their children.
• The physical facility is set up with separate parking facilities, entrances, waiting rooms, and staggered arrival and departure times for the custodial and non-custodial parties so that parties never see each other before, during, or after the visit or exchange.
• Children, parents, and custodial caretakers are assessed prior to the start of visitation to ensure all parties are capable of visiting.
• Trained visitation monitors complete training on issues related to child abuse, child development, domestic violence, and other relevant trainings.
• Trained therapists provide therapeutic visitation and monitor the visits. Coaching is provided to the parents and are on hand to address the child’s emotional well-being, such as being scared of the visiting party, having questions about the past abuse or the parent’s history, or having concerns over their safety.
• Kids in the Middle, a six-hour workshop for parents and caregivers about the effects of divorce, separation, and conflict on children and ways that parents and caregivers can mitigate those effects, is offered.

Family Visitation Center was designed with a child component that addresses the following presenting problems and symptoms:

• History of abuse, neglect, or domestic violence, fear of visiting non-custodial parent.

Age range: 0 – 17

Developmental Delays:

This program was developed for children with developmental delays; but has not been tested for children with developmental delays.

Family Visitation Center was designed with a parent/caregiver component that addresses the following presenting problems and symptoms:

• Lack of parenting skills with children exposed to child abuse, neglect, and domestic violence.

Family Visitation Center was not designed to be conducted in a group setting, and has not been tested for use in a group setting.

Recommended Intensity:

Contact between parties is typically 1.5 hours per week for visitation services. Some cases have more than one visit per week, some less. At times, the visit is reduced to one hour per week, if the child is experiencing difficulty during the visit. Visitation Services are set up per court order.

Recommended Duration:

Most of the clients use the visitation or exchange services for at least 6 months. Duration of use is set up per court order based on the history of the case, as well as reason for the referral.

This program is typically conducted in a(n):

• Community Agency
• Community Daily Living Settings

This program does not include a homework component.

Family Visitation Center has materials available in a language other than English:

Spanish

For information on which materials are available in this language, please check on the program's website or contact the program representative (contact information is listed at the bottom of this page).

The typical resources for implementing the program are:

Security monitors are placed at each entrance and waiting room and throughout the facility in order to monitor client safety. We have 2 separate entrances and waiting rooms, and a large office space. We also have several offices where therapeutic visitation occurs, or for families needing a quieter, more contained space for their visit. We also use large open spaces for families to visit in a more casual atmosphere. The idea of these spaces is to provide a home-like feel, complete with attaching playrooms, living space with couches, and a kitchenette and bathroom.

Staff providing regular supervised visitation are subject to minimum requirements set by the court, which include being over 21 years old, having no DUI conviction in the past 5 years, having no conviction for child molestation, abuse, or other crimes against a person, having no restraining orders in the past 10 years, having no court order that requires supervision of the practitioner, an ability to speak the language of the person being supervised, and having no conflict of interest.

In addition to the above requirements for regular supervised visitation providers, therapeutic providers are licensed mental health providers (e.g., psychiatrist, psychologist, LCSW, MSW, or MFT), or a registered intern working under direct supervision of a qualified mental health provider.

In addition to the minimum requirements, our staff are well trained on the issues of safety, documentation, and supervised visitation best practices.

There is not a manual that describes how to implement this program; but there is training available for this program.

Training Contact:

• Kimberly Pesavento, Visitation Program Director
  kpesavento@peninsulafamilyservice.org
  phone: (650) 403-4300 x4218

Training is obtained:

Via phone consultation or training contract with individual agencies.

Number of days/hours:

Informal training/consultation is available to those who are interested.

This program has been reviewed and it was determined that this program lacks the type of published, peer-reviewed research that meets the CEBC criteria for a scientific rating of 1 – 5. Therefore, the program has been given the classification of "NR - Not able to be Rated." It was reviewed because it was identified by the topic expert as a program being used in the field, or it is being marketed and/or used in California with children receiving services from child welfare or related systems and their parents/caregivers. Some programs that are not rated may have published, peer-reviewed research that does not meet the above stated criteria or may have eligible studies that have not yet been published in the peer-reviewed literature. For more information on the "NR - Not able to be Rated" classification, please see the Scientific Rating Scale.

Child Welfare Outcomes: Not Specified

Currently, there are no published, peer-reviewed research studies for Family Visitation Center.