Materials

The following new resources are available for free download:

On Safety's Side--Protecting Those Vulnerable to Violence: Challenges to Notions of Neutrality in Supervised Visitation Centers, Martha McMahon, Ph.D., and Ellen Pence, Ph.D.

Visitation centers have argued that “putting kids first” requires neutrality in the “conflict” between the parents. But this position frequently puts adult victims of violence in unnecessary competition with their children for protection. This [can be] harmful and not the intended outcome of centers adopting a stance of neutrality. This article is an examination of visitation center’s practice of neutrality in relation to the protection of children and adult victims of ongoing abuse.

New Perspectives on Supervised Visitation and Safe Exchange: Orientation, Jane Sadusky

A visitation center is one of the few community agencies to interact with each member of a family. It is likely to be the only agency that has ongoing weekly or other regular contact with everyone and as such it has much potential to protect children and adult victims of battering and to help parents who batter begin to repair the harm they have caused. The first call or appointment and the kind of welcome that each person receives influences everything from that point forward. This paper provides an overview of a shift in the practice from agency-centered intake to person-centered orientation as a framework for welcoming mothers, fathers, and children to the experience of supervised visitation.

As part of the Safe Havens: Supervised Visitation and Safe Exchange Grant Program, the Office on Violence Against Women developed and implemented a multi-year Demonstration Initiative to examine promising practices and take a sustained look at supervised visitation and safe exchange in the context of battering and other forms of domestic violence. It selected four demonstration sites to carry out this work: Santa Clara County, California; the City of Chicago, Illinois; the City of Kent, Washington; and the State of Michigan. This report captures the summary of the initiative’s and each site’s examination and findings of visitation center practices, community partnerships, cultural accessibility, security and sustainability.

Building Safety Repairing Harm Part 1

Building Safety Repairing Harm Part 2

Building Safety Repairing Harm Part 3

Building Safety Repairing Harm Part 4

Demonstration Initiative Safety and Accountability Audit Reports

As a participant in the Safe Havens: Supervised Visitation and Safe Exchange Demonstration Initiative, each demonstration site was required to conduct community-based assessments, utilizing the methodologies of the Praxis

Safety and Accountability Audit. Below are links to there ports for each of the demonstration sites.

How does the work of a visitation center produce or not produce safety for everyone involved? South Bay Area, CA
A Discussion of Accounting for Culture in Supervised Visitation Practices, City of Chicago, IL
What is the Role of a Supervised Visitation Center? State of Michigan
How does a victim of battering who might benefit from supervised visitation find out about it, decide whether or not to use it, effectively communicate that decision to the court, and locate an appropriate visitation program? City of Kent, WA

Guiding Principles for the Safe Havens: Supervised Visitation and Safe Exchange Grant Program, Office on Violence Against Women

The Guiding Principles of the Safe Havens: Supervised Visitation and Safe Exchange Grant Program are designed to guide the development and administration of Supervised Visitation Program centers in their efforts to centralize safety for adult and child victims of domestic violence. Guiding Principles look beyond the visitation setting to address how communities funded under the Supervised Visitation Program should address domestic violence in the larger community.