Visitation - Types of Visitation

 

You are seeking visitation

    You find yourself in a situation where you may be kept away from your child and the amount of time you want to spend with your child may not be what is allowed through the court approved parenting plan. Here is where I dive into what types of visitation there are and how to formulate a successful visitation schedule.

    I'm not sure where you are in your journey, but what I did not know and now want to share with you, is that there is a term for being denied visitation, especially if intentional. This type of behavior from the custodial parent is frowned upon in court and is called parental alienation. I'm not going to get into the topic of parental alienation, but I will touch on the fact that parental alienation is when one parent shows unjustified negativity towards the other parent and that strategy is used to destroy the relationship between the child and the other parent and to turn that childs emotions against the other parent. If you find yourself in this situation, listen to episode 5 of my podcast called Parental Alienation and learn how to prove alienation in court.

The other parent is seeking visitation

    You can find yourself in a situation where your child lives with you and the other parent wants to spend more time with the child. Even if the other parent has not shown any interest in getting to know the child previously, they seemingly now want to exercise their visitation rights. Before sending your child on a visit with the other parent, please insure that custody is established. I've met countless parents who have sent their child off on a visit with the other parent, only not to get the child back and experience the dread of parental kidnapping. Click here to read the article about custody and how to petition the court.

    If custody has already been established, then you may want to petition the court for a regular visitation schedule. I urge you at this point, do not allow the child to just go with the other parent. You always want to protect yourself with a formal agreement filed with the court system. I found that informal agreements are not binding; especially if you are in court representing yourself without experience. Filing a petition will insure peace of mind, and the safe return of your child. Word of advice, do not deny visitation altogether, offer supervised visitation in a public place until your formal agreement is finalized. If you decide to ignore the other parent or deny visitation, you could possibly lose custody of your child.

What is visitation?

    Now, lets get into it. Visitation is when the child sees the parent that he/she does not live with. If a court awards legal physical custody to a parent, unless there are no other issues, they will most likely grant visitation to the non-custodial parent. In some states, even if the parents are not married, the non custodial parent may automatically have visitation rights to the child. Please search 'visitation rights in (your state) to learn more about your specific state laws. There are three types of visitation that the court can grant you. The first type of visitation is called unsupervised visitation. This is where a regular visitation schedule that both parents agree upon is adhered to. This gives both parties a clear understanding of when the child is available. A regular and consistent unsupervised visitation schedule, which is the most common type of visitation, allows you to build or continue a healthy relationship with your child. There is no time constraint on how much you see your child. The only time I've found some restrictions, is if the mother of the child is breastfeeding. When this occurs it can limit the amount of time the child is away from the mother.

    The next type of visitation is supervised visitation. This is where the parent visits with the child under the supervision of a family member or social worker. Usually, this is ordered when there has been physical, sexual or emotional abuse towards the child or the other parent. Also, if the parent has a substance abuse or mental health issue then supervised visitation is ordered. Finally, no visitation is a type of visitation ordered in a very small amount of cases. The circumstances surrounding a no visitation order is very rare however if physical or emotional harm is done to the child as a result of visitation, then a no visitation order is set by the court. Again this is in very rare and extreme cases.

    If you live in the same state with your child, a regular visitation schedule may look like: you picking up the child from school and returning the child before bedtime 2 to 3 days a week and possibly every other weekend. If you do not live in the same state with your child, then visitation may look like one weekend every month and possibly summer break with alternate yearly holiday visits and the cost for transporting the child is split 50/50. Depending on your situation, your visitation schedule will be what is most comfortable and agreeable to you and the other parent.

     I wrote this article because there was so much I was unaware of at the beginning of my fight for custody over 2 years ago. I want to offer all of my research to you, in one place to help you on your journey. If you would like to know more about what you can do or have specific questions about your state, please feel free to email me at msnicoledaniels@yahoo.com or leave a message on this blog. I've created a podcast called Visitation; Let's talk custody, that starts in October 2022. Every Monday starting in October, expect to receive a new episode surrounding child custody, visitation, parental rights and a lot of other relevant topics. Follow my station and learn how you too, can survive a high conflict custody battle.

This article is for informational use only and should be used as a guideline to aide in your research.