Custody

If you’re worried about leaving your child alone with the abuser, you might think about asking a judge to order supervised visits. Supervised visits could be as lenient as having someone else there during the visits to “keep an eye” on things, or it could be as strict as having a professional appointed to observe and report back on the interaction between your child and the other parent. If you are already in court because the abuser filed for visitation or custody, it might be worth asking for supervised visits if you have a good reason. It depends on your situation.

However, if there is no court case going on now, it’s a good idea to talk to a lawyer before you start a case to ask for supervised visits. A custody lawyer in your area can explain what you need to prove to get supervised visits and how long they might last based on what is happening in your case.

Usually, supervised visits are only ordered for a short time but this may be different depending on where you live and who your judge is. The judge might order a professional to watch the visits, or a relative or other person known to either parent might volunteer to be the supervisor. If the supervisor doesn’t report any big problems back to the judge, the visits might become unsupervised. At the end of a case, the other parent might get more frequent and longer visits than s/he had before you went into court or even some form of custody.

If your child is in immediate danger from the abuser, you may need to start a case to ask for custody and supervised visits to protect your child. To find out what is best for your situation, you can look for legal advice using our Idaho Finding a Lawyer page.