When you are involved in a custody hearing, you may have concerns about your spouse. You may also feel that your spouse does not have your child’s best interests at heart and is even a bad influence on your child so you decide to pursue supervised visitation rights. However, what if you are the parent who gets supervised visitation? If so, you surely want to find a way to remove supervised visitation. So, how to get supervised visitation removed? You can find the answer by reading the entire text below. In this entire text, you will find out information about what supervised visitation is, several options for supervised visitation, reasons why you get supervised visitation, and the way to get supervised visitation removed.
About Supervised Visitation
If you get supervised visitation, you might be wondering what a supervised visitation is. For your information, supervised visitation is a visit with supervision. It means that you can only visit your child if you are supervised by another adult. When no one is supervising you, then you cannot visit your child even if you are the parent. Essentially, as a non-custodial parent with supervised visitation, you are still allowed to visit your beloved child and play together as long as another family member is supervising you. Of course, you must abide by this rule.
By the way, why does supervised visitation happen? Usually, this happens when you have a big conflict with your spouse, but your spouse still wants you to interact with your child for the good of the child. With supervised visitation, you can still visit your child but with supervision. This arrangement is meant to protect the child from potentially harmful situations, while still allowing the child to develop their relationship with their parents.
Several Supervised Visitation Options
For your information, there are several options for supervised visitation. Each option has its own rules.
Non-professional Third Party
Non-professional third party can supervise you when you visit your child. Non-professional third parties include other family members, close neighbors, family friends, or childcare providers. Usually this person is chosen as a supervisor by your partner to make sure your child is safe and nothing untoward happens. This supervised visitation option is likely to be less costly.
Child Visitation Professional
A professional supervisor such as a therapist, counselor, trained mediator, or social worker can supervise the visitation sessions. They should be skilled and experienced in facilitating supervised visits. This supervised visitation option requires an additional fee.
Custodial Parent or Guardian
The parent who has custody can also supervise the visitation sessions. There is no cost for this option, but it requires a lot of effort to avoid conflict. If you get supervised visitation like this, make sure you and your partner can reconcile, at least in front of your child.
In the Presence of a Therapist
A visitation can take place in the presence of a therapist or mental health professional. A therapist can provide guidance and support during the visitation session so as to help foster a positive relationship between you and your child while overcoming any emotional challenges.
Reasons Why You Get Supervised Visitation
Supervised visitation is usually ordered by the court if there are concerns that the non-custodial parent is having a bad influence on the child and is unable to properly care for the child. Here are some other reasons why you may get supervised visitation.
- There has been sexual, emotional, or physical abuse of the child by a parent
- There has been sexual, emotional, or physical abuse of one parent by the other parent
- Mental illness of a parent that could harm the child
- History of drug or alcohol abuse
- Risk of abduction or kidnapping by either parent
- Risk of neglect
- Absence of one parent in the child’s life
- Situations that could potentially harm the child (inappropriate parenting)
For note: Supervised visitation can be changed to unsupervised visitation if you as the parent who get supervised visitation meet certain requirements. For example, if you are involved in a drug abuse case, you must provide a clean drug test and a report that you have undergone counseling in order to get unsupervised visitation.
How to Get Supervised Visitation Removed?
To get unsupervised visitation rights with your child, you can follow these key steps below.
1. Use Your Supervised Visitation Wisely
As a parent getting supervised visitation, you must be able to prove to the court that you are not potentially a bad influence on your child. And, you must also be able to show that nothing is more important to you than your child. To do so, you must establish a strong and healthy relationship with your child. During supervised visits, you should make the most of the time you spend with your child.
Some ways to utilize your visitation time wisely include:
- During the visit, build a healthy relationship and strengthen your bond with your child. Make the visit a fun time with your child.
- Give your full attention to your child. Invite play, you can take your child to your child’s favorite place. Listen to your child’s stories with enthusiasm.
- If you are going on a visit, never be late. Make sure you arrive on time to show that you really want to visit your child.
- During the visit, you should show respect and courtesy to the person who has been appointed as the supervisor. If the supervisor is the parent who has custody, make sure no disagreements occur.
Some things to be aware of during the visit:
- Never visit your child while under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
- Make sure you maintain your behavior and appearance well.
- Put away your gadgets and focus on your child.
If you abide by these rules, the judge will see that you have done your best as a parent who gets supervised visits.
2. Fulfill the Requirements
You must fulfill all the requirements mandated by the court to obtain unsupervised visitation rights.
The following are some general requirements that you should undertake:
- Seek treatment to overcome your addiction if you are involved in alcohol or drug abuse.
- Go to therapy alone or with your child.
- Take parenting or co-parenting classes.
- Maintain a comfortable environment for your beloved child.
Aside from that, you need also to do the following:
- Maintain your relationship with your ex-spouse.
- Always pay your child support.
- Avoid interaction with law enforcement.
- Maintain your job and financial stability.
Make sure you fulfill all these requirements so that you have a good chance of obtaining unsupervised visitation rights.
3. Get the Court Order Changed
Lastly, you can apply for an amended court order by showing positive changes in your life and your relationship with your child. Therefore, make sure you do the above-mentioned steps well so as to help change your life and parent-child relationship for the better. In addition, to modify your custody and visitation orders, you can also file a petition, requesting the court to establish a regular visitation schedule. If your ex-spouse cannot agree to the case, go for a court hearing. If you are afraid of losing a visitation dispute, you should use the services of a law firm. However, make sure you prepare some money to pay for the fees.
Conclusion
Supervised visitation is indeed an official court order, allowing a non-custodial parent to visit their child with supervision. Visits can be supervised by a family member, a professional, a therapist, or an ex-spouse. If you are a parent receiving supervised visitation, you must abide by the visitation rules. You are not allowed to visit your child unsupervised by your ex-spouse or the person designated as the supervisor. However, you can change the court order from supervised visitation to unsupervised visitation. There are three main steps you must take to get unsupervised visitation rights; use your supervised visitation wisely, fulfill all the requirements mandated by the court, and get the court order changed. Nothing is impossible for you as a parent who wants to have quality time with your child. So, even though this court order sounds like a sad punishment, it doesn’t mean that you can’t do anything to change it.
