Supervised Visitations

 

An intake with each parent separately will be completed and take approximately one hour at a cost of $75 for the entire intake process prior to visits starting. During the intake, parents will be able to describe the concerns related to the safety of the children. Child First Family Services may add additional rules based on the intakes to ensure safety. Guidelines and rules will be reviewed with both parties before supervised visitation is scheduled and will be signed by both parties.

 

The parent that will be receiving the on-site supervised visitation is required to clock in 30 minutes before the appointment. The parent bringing the child/children is required to clock in 15 minutes early but no more than 20 minutes before the scheduled appointment. Each parent will be in separate rooms and should have no contact between them. Once the child is transitioned from the custodial parent/guardian to the parent receiving the supervised visitation by the Child First Family Services staff, the child will be supervised at all times with staff until returned to the custodial parent/Guardian. When the visit has ended, the supervised parent will stay at the office for a minimum of an additional 5 minutes to allow the custodial parent and child(ren) to exit and leave the area.

 

The custodial parent/guardian, supervised parent, and all attorneys will receive a written summary of the visitation striving to send out the summaries approximately within two weeks of the visit. There is no additional cost for the summaries. Child First Family Services offers visits on site, off-site at an agreed upon location, or home. Child First Family Services does not provide transportation nor do we allow the supervised parent to drive during the visit. Parent is not allowed to have any visitors during the visit for a minimum of the first two visits and visitors need to be approved by the Director of Child First Family Services prior to the visit with additional guests.

Home Visits

A home inspection (No additional cost other than travel cost) is required prior to approval and during drop off and pick-up, the supervisor will escort the children to and from the custodial parent's car. Visiting parent needs to stay in the home with no interaction between parents. There is a minimum of a two-hour visit for home visits and an additional charge for travel.

Office Visits

In Lancaster, there are two supervising rooms for younger or older children including games, arts
and crafts, a dining room table, refrigerator, microwave, coffee/tea/hot chocolate bar/snacks in both visitation
rooms. Both rooms have a living room. There are other activities including a kitchenette, workshop, veterinary clinic, Wii console in the younger visitation room and pool table, ping pong, air hockey table, Thomas the Train set, darts, and Xbox in the other visitation room. During all visits, the supervised parent may leave the office and take the children anywhere within walking distance which includes a park ½ block from the office, pottery shop (1 ½ blocks away), make jewelry (1 ½ blocks away), stop at shops or the Lancaster market, or eat a meal out at a restaurant to name a few. In the new Harrisburg visitation office, there is one visiting room at this time with a similar set-up. There are also several restaurants and a playground in walking distance. In both locations, if the visit is more than one hour, the
custodial parent must leave the premises during the visit and come back to the waiting room 15 minutes before the visit is scheduled to end.

Supervised Visits

The supervisor of the visit only intervenes for possible safety reasons. The supervisor documents what is said and observed. However, there are no clinical assessments. Cost: $50.00 per hour.

 

Therapeutic Supervised Visits

The supervisor of the visit initially observes the interaction between the child(ren) and the adult and then sets parenting goals to achieve. The supervisor may assist the parent with providing strategies for parenting during the visits as well as after the visit with goals to achieve per visit with the goal of improved positive parenting. Cost: $75.00 per hour.

 

 

 

*All staff have Child Abuse Clearances, have been trained for supervised visitation based on the Supervised Visitation Network training, and have had a minimum of 12 hours of domestic violence training.*