While the courts of California advocate that parents spend frequent and continuous contact with their children both during and after the divorce, the intent of the law prioritizes the well-being of the children (and of the family) above all else. This is also how visitation and child custody arrangements are worked out, with the child’s well-being and safety serving as the biggest factor when the courts are making their decisions.

This is where supervised visitation comes into play. This is an arrangement that allows a parent to spend time with his or her child, but only under the supervision of a third party that has been deemed to be neutral. This could be a non-professional supervisor, such as a friend or relative, or it could be a court-assigned provider of visitation services. Ultimately this choice is usually determined by the courts based on the facts of the case at hand.

Professional and Non-professional Supervision

There are some differences between supervised visits that are conducted by professionals and those done by informal supervisors, such as family, friends, or relatives. For one, those involving non-professional supervisors tend to be more informal in nature and there is some level of flexibility as to when and where these visits can take place.

In the other hand, supervised visits conducted by court-appointed professionals are usually bound to more rigid guidelines. Professional supervisors often report back what they see or hear to the courtrooms, and these visitations usually take place in a pre-designated space, such as an established place of visitation.

Dealing with supervised Visitations, or other child custody issues?

Whatever the specifics of your child custody and visitation case may be, you should not proceed without the assistance of a skilled family law and divorce attorney.

When dealing with these types of issues, know that you can rely on the legal experts at Rubin & Levavi, P.C. Call our offices at (415) 564-2776 to learn more about how we can help.