Access- Supervised  or Conditional

Access

This term describes the time that each parent has with the child. Usually, access means the time that the parent who has the child for the least amount of time has with the child. Access is a basic parental right, and a parent is presumed to have the right to spend a regular, scheduled amount of time with his or her child. Access will only be withheld when a parent poses a hazard to the child.

The amount of access a parent has depends entirely on the particular circumstances of the family, and a parent's access rights can be described on vague terms or with extreme detail. Vague terms usually say something to the effect of "so-and-so shall have liberal and generous access to the child." Detailed terms can include provision for specific drop-off and pick-up times, the sharing of driving, halves of birthdays, alternating holidays, extra time when there is a holiday Monday, Fathers' Day and Mothers' Day, the sharing of religious holidays and so forth. How detailed the terms of access need to be depend entirely on the circumstances of the parents, the level of commitment each parent has to be on time for access visits, and how flexible the parents are prepared to be with one another.

It is very important to understand that a parent's access rights to a child are entirely different from that parent's obligation to pay child support. Child support is not a fee paid to see one's child, nor is it it a fee charged in exchange for access.

It is never appropriate to withhold access because the parent missed a child support payment, nor is it ever appropriate to stop paying child support because access has been withheld. The courts will not look kindly on parents who have engaged in this sort of conduct.

Supervised Access

Supervised access is a kind of access in which a parent's time with a child is monitored or supervised by another adult, often a friend, a family member or, in rare cases, a professional access supervisor. Supervised access can be extremely difficult for a parent, and is reserved for situations where there are grave concerns about a parent's fitness to see his or her children. There must, in general, be some legitimate hazard to the child for a parent's time with his or her child to be supervised.

A history of mental instability, physical abuse, sexual abuse, substance abuse, or past attempts to abduct the children or alienate the child from the other parent are among the factors which suggest that access should only be allowed on the condition that it is supervised.

Conditional Access

Sometimes a court will order that a parent's access to his or her child depends on that parent's fulfillment of a condition or conditions. Normally, this is only required when there are concerns about a parent's behaviour when in the company of his or her children. Typical conditions of access might include requirements that: the parent not smoke in the presence of the children; the parent not drive with the children; or, the parent not drink alcohol before and during his or her time with the children. Pretty much any legitimate concern can be made into a condition of a parent's access.

If the parent who is subject to the condition breaches that condition, the other parent will be justified in withholding the child from him or her on a scheduled access visit.