Welcome to the Supervised Visitation Program.

We hope that you and your children will have a positive experience using our services. We have written this guidebook in order to help you learn about this process. These policies are written to assure safe, quality services to everyone and should be followed by all clients.

Please keep this guidebook for future reference.

The mission of the Supervised Visitation Program at The ParentChildCenter of Tulsa is to provide a safe, family-oriented, and conflict-free environment for children in which to maintain and build on an existing relationship with their parent(s). Our primary goal is to protect the safety, well being, and best interest of the children served.

Revised January 2011

The Parent Child Center of Tulsa

Supervised Visitation and Exchange Services

The Parent Child Center of Tulsa Supervised Visitation Program offers supervised exchanges and

on-site supervised visitation. There are different types of supervised visitation, and these include the following:

  • Observational Supervision – The visit supervisor participates mainly as an observer and only becomes involved in response to rule violations or safety concerns.
  • Supportive Visitation – The visit supervisor participates less as an observer and more as a coach to the parent, offering suggestions related to parenting, the child’s behavior, the parent-child interaction, and visit activities.
  • Therapeutic Visitation – The visit supervisor is a therapist that provides therapy and therapeutic activities to the parent and child during the visit. Often, the parent and child are also involved in their own individual therapy in conjunction with therapeutic visitation.
  • Monitored Visitation – The visit supervisor participates as an observer and only supervises portions of the visit. The supervisor can “drop-in” on visits and may not do this for every visit.
  • Supervised Exchanges – The supervisor participates as an observer and only offers supervision while the parties meet to exchange children for a visit. The visit itself is not supervised.

Currently, our program only provides observational supervision for visits along with exchanges. Our staff members do not provide any opinions or recommendations related to visitation. The role of our supervisors is to be an objective party and is not to provide instruction, therapy, or evaluative feedback to clients or legal entities. The visit supervisor will remain as unobtrusive as possible and the majority of time will provide supervision from outside of the visitation room. When available, this is often done through the use of a two-way mirror. Visits can also occur in more communal areas of PCCT such as the playground, kitchen, and lobby playroom. There is less privacy for visitation in these areas, and the visit supervisor must supervise by being in the same room. If visit participants, including children, offer visit supervisors food, participation in games, or other involvement during visits, the supervisor will likely decline in order to maintain our role as an objective party. We do not do any audio or video recording of visits.

Getting started

Intake Interviews:

Both the visiting and custodial parent must complete an intake interview before visits or exchanges can begin. The intake interview lasts about one hour and includes a discussion as to the reasons for the court ordered visitation, a review of program policies and guidelines, and completion of any necessary paperwork. The parent needs to call the office at 599-7999 between 8:30 and 5:00, Monday through Friday, to schedule an appointment. The ParentChildCenter requires that both the custodian and the visiting party schedule intakes priorto the first intake being completed. This is to avoid one party paying the intake fee and the other party not initiating services, and also to insure that all parties understand program expectations and visitation guidelines. Intake fees are non-refundable even if visits never occur because the intake service was still provided.

Intake Fees:

The intake fee pays for your interview, any telephone calls we may make on your behalf, scheduling your first visit, and other case management needs. Intake fees are due at the time the intake occurs. We understand that it is often not clear whose responsibility it is to pay for intake fees. However, it is the responsibility of both the custodian and visiting party to resolve this, either through mutual agreement or by working through attorneys before intake. It is not the responsibility of the Supervised Visitation Staff to determine who pays what fees. When a court order states that one or the other party will pay for visitation, this includes paying for both parties’ intake fees unless otherwise determined or specified in the court order.

Things to Bring to an Intake:

  • Any court order related to visitation and custody
  • Copies of all current protective and restraining orders (and past if relevant) pertaining to custodian, visiting party, and child(ren)
  • Proof of income for all adults living in the home-The Parent Child Center requires income verification for at least one month.

Acceptable Documentation Includes:

  • paycheck stubs (is preferred)
  • proof of child support paid and/or received
  • documents verifying Social Security, TANF, disability, food stamps and any other government benefits
  • proof of garnishments or other significant important expenses
  • tax returns for the most recent year may be considered if it can be verified that current income and expenses are similar
  • This copy of the Supervised Visitation Guidebook

Who Should Come to the Intake?

  • Custodian Intakes
  • Custodian of the child(ren) who will be attending visits and / or exchanges
  • Spouse or significant other of custodian if that person will be involved in dropping off, picking up, scheduling, or confirming visits and / or exchanges
  • Anyone else who may be bringing the child(ren) or picking up after visits and / or exchanges
  • Visiting Party Intakes
  • All visiting parties who will be attending visits and / or exchanges
  • Spouse or significant other of visiting party if that person will be involved in attending, confirming, or scheduling visits and / or exchanges
  • Other Family Member or Visitors’ Intakes

Anyone planning to drop off or pick up children for visits and / or exchanges or anyone who plans to attend a visit must participate in the intake. If it is not possible for all parties to be present at the intake with the custodian or visiting party, then this can be done separately for an additional $30 fee. The purpose of this intake is to help insure safety of the children and that all parties understand the visitation guidelines.

  • Child Intakes

It can be helpful for children to have information about supervised visitation and to have an opportunity to ask question before beginning visits at The Parent Child Center. Therefore, we strongly encourage parents to have their child(ren) attend a 20-30 minute complimentary intake before visits begin.

  • Topics Will Include:
  • Overview of the purpose of supervised visitation focusing on safety of all parties
  • A tour of the visitation and observation rooms
  • Discussion of the role of the supervisor during, before, and after visits
  • An opportunity for the child(ren) to ask questions or express concerns

To Avoid Scheduling Delays:

It is not unusual for the custodian and visiting party to have difficulty agreeing on several important matters related to supervised visitation. We strongly encourage all prospective supervised visitation clients to work to resolve the following issues as early in the process as possible. It may be helpful to insure that these matters are addressed in a court order.

  • Who is responsible for payment of fees (including both intakes and visits)?
  • What is the requested frequency and length of visits?
  • Who will and will not be able to attend the visits?
  • Will gifts be allowed at visits?
  • Can pictures be taken at visits?
  • Is the visiting party allowed to bring food to visits or cook meals for the children during visits?

Vague guidelines and disagreements as related to these matters can cause significant delays in scheduling a visit.

PCCT is able to accommodate up to 2 visits per week in most instances. The ability to offer more than 2 visits per week is subject to supervisor and schedule availability. It is helpful to consult with the agency in advance to insure that PCCT can accommodate the requested frequency and duration of visits prior to including such information in a court order. Visit requests must be made a week in advance. Participants should allow a week from the date of the intake appointment for PCCT to schedule the first visit.

Visit and Exchange Hours

Visitation: Monday through Friday – 6:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

Saturdays – 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Sundays – 12:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Supervised Exchanges: We are able to accommodate most requests for exchanges.

Check with the Supervised Visitation Coordinator.

*Some visitation outside the listed times may be available subject to supervisor and space availability.

Fees

The fee schedule for intake interviews, supervised visits, exchanges, and reports is on a separate page included in this guidebook. All fees for visits and exchanges are due at the beginning of the visit or exchange. The supervisor will collect the fee at the beginning of the visit and write the payer a receipt. Payments must be made in cash (correct change required) or money order. If the party does not have exact change, a larger amount than what is due will be accepted and an account credit will be issued or a refund can be issued at a later date. We do not accept checks or credit cards. There will be no visitation until intake fees are paid, interviews are completed, and parties are accepted as clients.

There are NO services if ANY fees are due unless you have made special arrangements with the Program Coordinator.

There is some subsidy money available for supervised visitation. The amount available does vary from month to month, and is distributed fairly among all families who are eligible. Proof of family income must be provided to qualify for this assistance. “Family” refers to all income of adult persons living in the home. Families relying heavily on subsidy assistance to pay for visits will likely have a limited number and duration of visits per week in order to insure fair distribution of this resource.

If the program coordinator or staff person is subpoenaed to testify in a court hearing regarding the supervised visitation or exchanges, an hourly fee is charged. Mileage and tolls outside the Tulsa area are additional. A minimum of one hour’s fee must be paid prior to a court appearance. The role of a staff member attending court is NOT to provide recommendations or opinions regarding the case. The staff member’s role is to attest to the factual information included in visit reports, court reports or letters, or other such paperwork.

All visits and exchanges are documented by the supervisors. These documents and a summary letter are available upon request to parents and attorneys (with current, relevant releases in place) for court purposes. In order for us to provide these documents, requests must be made at least 7 working days before the document or report is needed in order for staff to have adequate preparation time. There will be an additional charge for requests made less than seven working days in advance (see fee schedule on separate sheet). Thefees for these services must be paid and your account current in order for these documents to be released.

Following the Visitation Timeline

Snapshot of a typical visit:

6:00 pmto7:00 pm – the time of the scheduled visit

5:45 pm– Custodian drops child(ren) off with Supervisor, pays (when applicable), and must

leave PCCT property by 5:55.

6:00 pm – Visiting parent arrives, pays, and visit begins.

6:45 pm – Visiting parent begins transition to clean up and conclude visit.

7:00 pm – Visiting parent leaves.

7:05pm – Custodian arrives and picks up child(ren). The custodian and child(ren) must leave

PCCT property by 7:15pm.

Snapshot of a typical exchange:

6:00 pm – time of scheduled exchange

5:45 pm– Parent drops child(ren) off with Supervisor, pays (when applicable), and must leave

PCCT property by 5:55.

6:05pm – Other parent arrives to pick up child(ren), pays (when applicable), and must leave

PCCT property by 6:15pm.

The primary concern of The Parent Child Center is to insure safety for all parties involved with supervised visitation. Therefore, it is very important that custodial and visiting parties not be on the premises at the same time. Arriving during the other parent’s assigned time, not leaving the premises in a timely manner, and/or following or harassing the other parties before or after visits can be grounds for termination or suspension of services. If you arrive early, you must find a place out of eyesight to wait. It is not acceptable to arrive early and wait in the agency parking lot or the parking lot of a nearby business.

Children are to be brought to the agency 15 minutes before the visit is scheduled to begin. For example, if the visit is scheduled to begin at 6pm, the custodian needs to bring the child(ren) at 5:45pm. The custodian must come into the building and sign the child(ren) in with the visit supervisor who will be waiting for the children. The custodian must then immediately leave PCCT property and must be far enough way to be out of eyesight of the property. If you are to arrive by bus transportation, you need to notify the Coordinator so that special arrangements can be made.

Early Arrivals

Early arrivals create problems from a safety perspective as well, because the supervisor may be concluding a visit or preparing for an upcoming visit. Therefore, early arrivals in the following situations are unacceptable:

1)Custodian arriving more than 15 minutes before a scheduled visit or exchange.

2)Custodian arriving before the scheduled end of the visit. (For example, if a visit is scheduled to end at 7pm, the custodian should not arrive before 7:05pm.)

3)The visiting parent arriving before the scheduled start time of the visit or exchange.

Early arrivals on the part of the custodian will result in additional fees. Early arrivals on the part of the visiting parent can result in suspension or termination of visits.

Late Arrivals

Both the custodian and the visiting parent must arrive on time in order to insure safety and minimize anxiety on the part of the child(ren). If the custodian arrives later than the start time of the scheduled visit or exchange, this is subject to a fee. Since this also means that the custodian and visiting parent will be on the premises at the same time, the custodian should call the Coordinator as soon as possible so that appropriate safety precautions can be made. If the custodian is late bringing the child to the visit, whether or not the visit can be extended depends on several factors (the visit schedule for the day, parties’ schedules, etc.) and is at the discretion of the visit supervisor.

If the visiting parent arrives later than 15 minutes after the scheduled visit time without notifying the Coordinator, the visit will be cancelled, and the visiting parent will be charged late cancellation fees. If the visiting parent notifies the Coordinator that he or she will be late, the visit can proceed but will not be extended past the originally scheduled end time. In this instance, the visiting parent will be charged a late arrival fee in addition to the set visitation fee. All 1 hour visits must begin within 30 minutes of the originally scheduled start time. Visits longer than 1 hour must begin within 45 minutes of the originally scheduled start time.

Late Endings

Visiting parents must leave at the time the visit is scheduled to end. Staying past the scheduled time can negatively impact the child and create safety concerns. Therefore, staying past the scheduled time or difficulty leaving on time can result in changes to or suspension of visits. Supervisors will remind you when it is nearing the end of the visit.

Late Pick-Ups

The custodian must pick up the child no later than 15 minutes after the visit is scheduled to end. Late pick up can interfere with another family’s subsequent visits and can cause unnecessary concern on the part of the child(ren) who need to be picked up on time. Late pick-up is subject to additional fees.

Cancellations

The Parent Child Center of Tulsa requires 24 hours notice in order to cancel a visit or exchange. If the required notice is not provided, the responsible party will be charged the full cost of the visit. (Subsidy assistance does not cover late cancellation fees.) Three late cancellations can result in suspension or termination of visits.

If a party arrives for a visit and wishes to shorten the length of time of the visit, they are still responsible to pay the originally determined visitation fee. For example, if a parent arrives for a 2 hour visit and wishes to shorten it to an hour, the parent will still be charged for a 2 hour visit. Shortening a visit is also contingent on the visit supervisor being able to get in contact with the custodian in order to notify that party of the changes.