The majority of Parenting Plans set forth consistent and unsupervised visitation. This is as it should be for the healthy development of the child and the integrity of the family.
So under what circumstances will a court consider supervised visitation or eliminating visitation altogether?
Violence – past physical abuse of a child such that the child needs to be protected from the parent for the child’s own physical safety.
Emotional harm to the child – a court may consider eliminating or reducing visitation if the visitation is negatively affecting the child’s performance at school or the child has consistent and identified adverse reactions to the visitation such as engaging in anti-social behavior or self-injurious behavior.
Mental health – if the mental health of a parent is such that the child cannot be safe without supervision.
Substance abuse – a parent’s abuse of alcohol or use of illegal drugs impairs their ability to exercise sound judgment during parenting time or otherwise prevents the parent from meeting the child’s basic needs.
Re-establishment of parent child relationship – typically ordered when the relationship between the parent and the child is “strained” or the parent seeking visitation has been absent. This type of visitation is usually supervised by a mental health professional such as therapist or psychologist. Therefore it is often referred to as “therapeutic visitation.”
Abduction – is the non-custodial parent a flight risk? I mean a real flight risk. The court would have to find that the parent poses such a threat to flee with the child that the parent cannot visit with the child without supervision. This is a rare case.
In some instances, a court will order certain restrictions or limitations regarding visitation (i.e. drug testing, mental health treatment, family counseling). This is designed to address a problem without the drastic step of supervising visitation or eliminating visitation. However, supervised visits or eliminating visitation may be ordered if there is no other way to safely protect the child.
I represent clients with visitation issues throughout Fairfield County including Easton, Fairfield, Monroe, Trumbull, Stratford, Bridgeport, Westport, Weston, New Canaan, Wilton, Norwalk, Darien, Stamford and Greenwich.
Contact me online or call my Fairfield office at (203) 259-5251 or my Stamford office at (203) 356-1475 if you have questions about supervised visitation in Connecticut.