Imagine you made some mistakes in your past, and you're also a parent. You know that your child needs to see you, but the court and the other parent of your child believe you pose a threat to your child's safety. This is probably not true if you're concerned about spending time with your child, but whatever the judge decides is the law.
If you're troubled by the looming possibility that a family law judge could strip you of your parental rights, you might be able to request supervised visitation from the court.
What is supervised visitation?
An award of supervised visitation is better than no visitation at all. It will allow you to continue visiting with your child. The difference from normal visitation is the fact that during supervised visits, a court-approved supervisor must be present to ensure the safety of the child. This "supervisor" might be an employee of the court that handled your child custody case. In some situations, it could be a court-approved family friend whom both the parents trust.
Supervised visits might happen at a court facility designed for the purpose. Or, it might happen at an approved location, such as your home or somewhere else. Wherever it happens, however, you will not be permitted to be along with your children.
Why supervised child visits work well for both parents of the child
Family and child psychologists have proven that kids grow and develop best when they can spend as much time as possible with both parents. At the very least, it helps children tremendously to maintain a relationship with their noncustodial parent. Psychologists even agree that children benefit from maintaining contact with a potentially bad parent. Knowing that mom or dad loves them and wants to spend time with them -- flaws and all -- provides children with an enormous sense of security.Parents who realize the above can usually see the benefit of supervised visits. Even a parent who is worried about his or her child's safety with the other parent can rest assured that a supervisor will be present at all times to safeguard their children. If you can see the benefits of supervised visits in your child custody case, you may want to learn about the best way to request such arrangements during your child custody proceedings.