Services
Visitation Services
Although research correlates visits with faster return home and shorter foster care placement, in most child welfare systems, visits are rarely more than a weekly encounter. Families can have “okay” visits for months and be no closer to demonstrating that they can keep their child safe.
Services are seldom designed to help families learn more about what their child needs. Drug and alcohol programs and domestic violence counseling focus on adult treatment, not parent responsiveness to children. Parenting classes are not specifically designed to help a parent clarify what he/she could do differently to meet the unique developmental needs of his/her child. Parents can be clean and sober, determined to stay out of violent relationships, or graduates of parenting classes and are still unable to demonstrate that they will protect their child from the risks that brought him/her into care.
Visits typically do not attempt to build on a parents’ strengths or guide parents in responding to their child’s reaction to separation. Parents’ concepts of their child’s needs may remain different from the developmental and safety needs of concern to the case worker, foster parent, parenting teacher, or therapist. The parent’s preoccupation with complying with court-ordered treatment, employment and housing may obscure their child’s needs. They may act out their anger and grief about the child’s removal during visits, not realizing how it may negatively affect their child.
Research shows that a responsive and attuned caregiver is critical to healthy emotional-brain development. By providing planning meetings prior to visits occurring, parents develop the life-long habit of identifying a child’s needs and adjusting parenting skills accordingly to meet them.
Therapeutic Supervised Visitation
Therapeutic Supervised Visitation is designed for supervised visits in cases involving more complex challenges such as domestic violence, verbal abuse, or other parenting difficulties. It is particularly valuable in situations involving allegations of sexual abuse, the risk of child abduction, or parental alienation. This program focuses on guiding parent-child interactions in a safe, therapeutic setting, enhancing the parent-child relationship.
Each visit includes a pre-visit session to prepare and set goals while addressing concerns raised by either the parent or child. Post-visit sessions provide opportunities for feedback, reflection, and continued support in nurturing the relationship. Therapeutic Supervised Visitation happens within the context of supervised visits, ensuring safety and structure during family interactions. Visits may take place in various settings, such as homes, parks, libraries, resource centers, or virtually, depending on the family’s specific safety needs and convenience. HIPAA-exempt documentation is provided to the CBC to support informed judicial decisions, based on observed behavioral changes during visits.
Visit Coaching
Visit Coaching supports parents in developing attuned, responsive interactions that address their child’s emotional and developmental needs. This approach emphasizes understanding the child’s unique dynamics while fostering long-term growth. Visit Coaching occurs within the context of unsupervised visits, providing pre-visit sessions that help parents prepare, set goals, and address any concerns, ensuring a meaningful and consistent visit experience. Post-visit sessions allow for reflection and feedback, promoting continued growth in the parent-child relationship.
This service often includes non-custodial parents to strengthen co-parenting, minimize the child’s emotional dysregulation related to visitations, and reduce feelings of loyalty conflict. Comprehensive, non-HIPAA-bound documentation is provided to the CBC, offering detailed insights into behavioral changes during visits to aid judicial decision-making.
Visitation Services Comparison Chart
Therapeutic Supervised Visitation vs. Visit Coaching vs. Family Therapy
| Aspect | Therapeutic Supervised Visitation | Visit Coaching | Family Therapy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Purpose | Provides a structured, safe environment for parent-child interactions in cases with high-risk factors such as domestic violence, abuse, or alienation. | Supports parents in developing responsive, attuned interactions that meet their child’s emotional and developmental needs. | Focuses on addressing emotional, relational, and behavioral dynamics within the entire family system. |
| Context | Supervised Visits | Unsupervised Visits | Unsupervised Visits |
| Focus | High-risk cases; safety and structure during supervised interactions, guiding the parent-child relationship in a controlled setting. | Enhancing the parent’s ability to meet their child’s emotional needs, focusing on building long-term attachment and parenting skills. | Improving communication, addressing conflict, and fostering healthier family dynamics. |
| HIPAA Compliance | Not HIPAA-bound – Documentation is HIPAA-exempt and provided to the CBC, focusing on behavioral observations and safety concerns. | Not HIPAA-bound – Documentation is non-HIPAA and provided to the CBC, offering insights into parenting progress and the child’s emotional responses. | HIPAA-bound – Documentation is confidential and adheres to HIPAA standards, with progress shared only as allowed under HIPAA. |
| Setting | Structured, may occur in various settings (home, parks, libraries, etc.) depending on safety needs. | Flexible, can occur in homes, community settings, or other family-friendly environments. | Therapy rooms, homes, or virtual settings depending on family needs. |
Aspect
Purpose
Purpose
Therapeutic Supervised Visitation
Provides a structured, safe environment for parent-child interactions in cases with high-risk factors such as domestic violence, abuse, or alienation.
Provides a structured, safe environment for parent-child interactions in cases with high-risk factors such as domestic violence, abuse, or alienation.
Visit Coaching
Supports parents in exercising behavior change through attuned and responsive interactions that support their child’s needs.
A child-needs-focused approach rather than a parenting approach to visits that is trauma-informed and attachment-based.
Establishing parenting practices that focus on the child’s underlying emotional dynamics and long-term development rather than the behavior while strengthening the parent-child bond.
Creates a positive visit experience for the child by fostering a co-parenting relationship between the caregiver and non-custodial parent, increasing consistency and minimizing dysregulation prior to and following visitation.
Because visits are not bound by HIPAA, the CBC is provided comprehensive documentation of visit that allows the judge to make informed decisions, based on the behavior change exhibited during visits.
Family Therapy
Purpose is to support children and families with mental health diagnoses in working through stressors, struggles, challenges, and tough times in a way that results in stronger family relationships and a greater ability to function as a unit.
Goal is for family members to learn to better understand each other as well as communicate and work through conflict and stress more effectively.
Supports parents in understanding the purpose and function behind survival-based behaviors as well as how to support the child in getting their needs met in more attractive ways.
A trauma-informed and attachment-based approach to establishing best parenting practices.
Bound by client confidentiality and information shared with CBC’s is limited.