The YWCA Supervised Visitation & Child Exchange Center (the Center) offers an alternative to unsupervised visits and exchanges by providing an emotionally and physically safe environment where children may visit with their non-residential parent. The Center was created to help families that have experienced domestic violence and have difficulty interacting in a non-threatening, appropriate manner. In order to participate in the Center's services, both parents must agree to comply with the Center's policies.
Possible reasons for using the Center include:
The Center does not provide evaluations of the families who use the program's services or make recommendations about future arrangements for parent-child access. The observations made at the Center are of parent-child interactions, which have occurred in a structured and protected setting. No prediction is intended about how interactions between the same parent(s) and child(ren) might occur in a less protected setting and without supervision.
Why Supervised Visits or Supervised Exchanges?
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Victims of domestic violence are able to meet their court ordered visitation requirements while while having no contact with the other party;
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Non-residential parents are able to comply with court ordered visitation without violating protective orders or bail conditions, if present; and,
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Children are able to maintain a relationship with both parents, free from domestic violence and with as little conflict of loyalty as possible.
Location & Contact Information:
The Center is located within the YWCA of Manchester, with the mailing address of: 72 Concord St., Manchester, NH, 03101. For more information or to schedule an appointment, please call (603) 296-0457. Or, contact the Program Coordinator, Mike Solis, via email at mikes@ywcanh.org.
Services Offered:
Fully Supervised Visits: Visits are held at the Center and are constantly monitored by staff who watch and listen during the entire visit. The Visitation Supervisor will document observations, and offer assistance as needed to ensure appropriate parent-child interactions;
Semi Supervised Visits: Visits are held at the Center. The Visitation Supervisor will periodically monitor the visit, document observations, and offer assistance as needed to ensure appropriate parent-child interactions; and,
Supervised Exchanges: Visits are not held at the Center. Only the child's custody exchange is supervised and facilitated by a staff member to ensure no contact between parties.
Safety Mechanisms:
To enhance the safety of all Center participants and staff, all policies and procedures must be followed. The Center cannot guarantee the safety of an individual. However, we do make it the first priority. Some of our safety mechanisms include:
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Separate entrances, hallways, and waiting areas;
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Surveillance system used to monitor the hallways and rooms within the Center;
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Trained Center Staff and, when necessary, Manchester Police Officers on site during visits;
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Established protocol with the local police for crisis situations;
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Operations in compliance with "best practice" standards and guidelines by the New Hampshire Family Visitation & Access Cooperative, Supervised Visitation Network, and the NH Governor's Subcommittee on Supervised Visitation in Domestic Violence Cases;
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Zero tolerance for domestic violence and/or abusive behavior of any kind; and,
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Zero tolerance for use of drugs and/or alcohol before and during visitations and exchanges.
Referrals:
A court order is not required to use services. However, many families are court ordered to use services. Referrals may also be made by attorneys, Guardian Ad Litems, Batterer's Intervention Programs, Crisis Services, self-referrals, and other community resources.
After a referral has been made to the Center, each parent must call the Center to schedule and then attend an intake meeting to apply for services. The purpose of an intake meeting is for the Program Coordinator to collect the necessary information for your referral; explain the rules at the Center; discuss safety; determine financial arrangements; and answer any questions.
Each parent is responsible for a non-refundable intake fee of $30, regardless of which parent is responsible for visitation or exchange costs. Intake fees are due at the beginning of the intake meeting. In addition, non-residential parents who are referred for supervised visits, are required to sign a criminal background check form so that we can obtain the criminal history. A non-refundable fee of $15 will be required at the time of the intake for this purpose.
Once accepted into the program, the Program Coordinator will schedule a separate orientation with the residential parent and child/ren. During the child/ren's orientation, the Coordinator and residential parent will familiarize the child/ren with the Center, give a tour, and discuss what will happen during the visit. We make every attempt to answer the child/ren¡Ùs questions and try to help the child/ren feel comfortable at the Center.
The Center will schedule the times of the exchanges or visits and will provide each parent with a copy. This schedule must be signed, dated, and returned to Center staff before visits or exchanges begin.
Staffing:
The Center's staff is trained to monitor and appropriately intervene during visits. The program's primary focus is the safety and well being of everyone using the Center. Staff is required to participate in ongoing specialized training to supervise visits. The training prepares individuals to directly support children, residential, and non-residential parents in a safe and positive family visit. The training is focused on understanding aspects of family violence, facilitating parent-child visits, child development, the philosophy and history of visitation centers, the importance of safety, objective note taking, the impact of substance abuse on visitation, legal and ethical concerns, and how to work with children who have witnessed domestic violence.
Procedures:
Fully Supervised Visit:
The visiting parent must enter the Center by using the side entrance to the YWCA building at 444 Chestnut Street. The visiting parent must arrive 15 minutes before the scheduled visit. If the visiting parent is late, the visit will be cancelled. Upon arrival all parents may be searched by a metal detector and will be asked by a staff member to remove outerwear such as jackets, hats, and to empty their pockets. The Center reserves the right to search all items brought into the Center. Cell phones, keys, etc., will be kept by staff in a secured area. All other items requested for use during visitation are subject to prior approval by administrative staff.
Once the visiting parent is secured in the waiting room, the residential parent will arrive through the main/front entrance to the YWCA building at 72 Concord Street to drop off the child/ren, and leave immediately thereafter. The child/ren and visiting parent will be brought into a visiting room by a Visitation Supervisor who will remain in the room the entire time, documenting observational notes. At the conclusion of the visit, the Visitation Supervisor will bring the child/ren from the visitation room to the residential parent. The residential parent will be expected to exit the Center immediately following the return of the child/ren. The visiting parent will be secured in the visitation or waiting room until 15 minutes after the residential parent exits the premises.
Center staff is available by appointment to discuss visitation arrangements or concerns. The Arrival and departure procedures and times must be followed precisely to help assure safety for all participants of the Center
Semi Supervised Visit:
Follow the procedure for fully supervised visits. The only difference is that the Visitation Supervisor checks in and out of room periodically and documents observations of the visit during that time.
Supervised Exchange:
The procedure for arrival and departure for a supervised exchange is the same as a fully and semi-supervised visit. However, the actual visit between the child and non-residential participant happens off-site and is unsupervised. Therefore, only the exchange is supervised, and only the date and time of exchanges are documented, unless there is an incident requiring further documentation.
Cost of Services:
A sliding fee scale, based on income is available to all participants. Court ordered families should be assigned payment responsibility by the Court. Other referring agencies should determine who will be responsible for payment, in writing. If the referring party does not indicate the financially responsible party, the secondary non-residential parent will be held responsible to pay the fees for services. Regardless of the financially responsibility, each participant applying for services must pay a one time fee of $30. Additionally, a parent applying for supervised visits must pay a one time fee of $15 for a criminal background check. Thereafter, payment is due at check-in. During the orientation, we will explain our sliding fee scale and fee agreement forms.
|
Annual Family Income |
Fully Supervised Visit (per hour) |
Semi-Supervised Visit (per hour) |
Supervised Exchanges |
|
$0-$12,000 |
$10 |
$5 |
$5 |
|
$12,001-$14,000 |
$15 |
$10 |
$5 |
|
$14,001-$16,000 |
$20 |
$15 |
$5 |
|
$16,001-$18,000 |
$25 |
$20 |
$5 |
|
$18,001-$20,000 |
$30 |
$25 |
$5 |
|
$20,001-$22,000 |
$35 |
$30 |
$6 |
|
$22,001-$24,000 |
$40 |
$35 |
$6 |
|
$24,001-$26,000 |
$45 |
$40 |
$7 |
|
$26,001-$28,000 |
$50 |
$45 |
$8 |
|
$28,001-$30,000 |
$55 |
$50 |
$9 |
|
$30,001-$35,000 |
$60 |
$55 |
$10 |
|
$35,001-$38,000 |
$65 |
$60 |
$15 |
|
$38,001-$40,000 |
$70 |
$65 |
$15 |
|
$40,001 and over |
$75 |
$65 |
$20 |
For driving directions, please visit www.mapquest.com.
Parking
There is NO free parking available during the week. There is on street metered-parking available on Chestnut and Concord Streets. Parking is limited to two hours on Concord Street in front of the YWCA building. Ten hour meters are available on Concord Streetnext to the Hartnett Lot and on Chestnut Street. There are also several ten hour meters available in the Hartnett Lot. Please bring quarters because the Manchester Police Department will ticket and tow your car. Parking is also available at the parking garage across from the YWCA.
This project is supported by the Violence Against Women Grants Office, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. Points of view in this document are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the official position of the U.S. Department of Justice.
Funding for this program is provided by the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services in partnership with Hillsborough County Incentive Fund Program.
This project is supported by the Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Child Support Services, Access & Visitation Initiative.
The YWCA Supervised Visitation & Child Exchange Center is a member program of the Heritage United Way.