Safe Harbor for Kids

A Supervised Child Visitation and Exchange Program

Supervised visits enable children living apart from a parent, to spend time with their parents in a safe and supervised environment.  Supervised exchanges allow residential or custodial parents and non-custodial or visiting parents to exchange children for visits in a way that protects them from being placed in the middle of their parents’ conflicts.

Supervised visits and exchanges allow children to maintain relationships with their parents without the stress of worrying about what is going to happen during an on-site visit or at the point of the exchange between parents.

The parent/child relationship is the most important one we will ever have.  Through our early relationships with our parents we learn about feeling safe, feeling loved, feeling that we belong in the world, and feeling that we have a special worth to the world.  Exposure to parental conflicts or other parental problems undermines these lessons, seriously impacting a child’s ability to relate to other people in healthy ways, and to feel good about him or herself as an individual.  Such feelings can last a lifetime.

It is our hope at Safe Harbor for Kids that everyone involved will be able to see both supervised visits and exchanges as important tools for families as they go through difficult and/or transitional times.

A Child Focused Program

All Safe Harbor for Kids policies and decisions are geared toward serving the best interests of the children enrolled in our program.  We regard parents as critical partners in this process.  A custodial parent or guardian can feel better about allowing a child to have contact with a non-custodial parent when that contact takes place in a safe and monitored environment.  Visiting parents have an opportunity to maintain a relationship with their child(ren) despite their own personal problems, or any conflicts with the child’s primary caretakers.

Why an Agency Rather Than A Friend or Relative?

Many families have attempted to use friends or relatives to supervise visits or child exchanges.   However, this often does not work out because:

·      It is often difficult to find someone that both parents agree on.

·      It puts a strain on the relationship with the friend or relative, who may quickly tire of the regular commitment and/or of being in the “middle”.

·      It is difficult for friends and relatives to refrain from taking sides.  Once this happens the person supervising loses all credibility, and any feelings of security and safety may also become lost.

·      Finally, the presence of the friend or relative during a supervised visit may detract from the quality of the parent/child time together.  The parent may feel a need to spend time interacting with the other adult, taking away attention from the child.  The child, in turn, may begin to feel that the parent does not value the visits, and could grow to resent both the visits and the parent.

Other advantages to using our agency include:

·      Our ability to provide space for parents to be separated while in our center

·      Our professional staff, who work closely with referring courts and social service agencies and provide written reports when needed.

To Schedule an Appointment

The first appointment is an orientation visit.  Residential and visiting parents are interviewed individually.  This is an opportunity for us to get to know the family, and for the family to get to know us.  During this visit, we also share our expectations, rules and fees, and allow family members to see the visiting areas.  Once the orientations are completed, we will be ready to schedule visits.

For more information, call us at 757-838-1960.