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Archives > Spring 1994 articles
Supervised Access
Access is the right of a child to maintain or, in some cases,
to develop a relationship with a parent or other significant
person with whom they are not residing.
A grandparent, step-parent, aunt or uncle could be significant
other persons in a child's life and so are entitled to seek
access. Access is not, however, a parental right to be imposed
against the genuine wishes of the child. However, situations
do arise in which the child's wishes may not be clear, or
the child too young to express them, or there is reason to
believe that the child's expressed wishes may be influenced
by the feelings or views of another person. These latter situations
are commonly known as Parental Alienation Syndrome, where
one parent is influencing the child against the other.
In some cases a child may be expressing a wish or willingness
to have contact with the person seeking access, but there
may be evidence or concerns that that person, nonetheless,
poses a risk to the child. These concerns usually center around
the risk of possible sexual abuse or the abduction of the
child. Or there may be concerns that the access person lacks
appropriate parenting skills to adequately care for the child.
The provision of an access supervisor is often the most
effective means of meeting the conflicting demands of such
access situations. Supervision enables the child to have contact
with the access person, yet ensures that there is no risk
to the child.
In many circumstances a supervisor who is warm, friendly,
flexible and has a basic understanding of good parenting skills
can both provide protection for the child and enhance the
quality of the access interaction. The child is freed from
anxiety about facing the reaction of the custodial parent
upon their return as the supervisor can reassure the custodial
parent that the child has been appropriately cared for during
the access visit. Access supervisors, by modelling parenting
skills and offering suggestions about age appropriate activities,
can enhance the parenting skills of an access parent.
But in some circumstances, such as situations of alleged
sexual, physical or emotional abuse, the supervisor needs
to be trained to be sensitive to any attempts to abuse the
child during access. However, in no circumstances should a
child who is genuinely in fear of an access parent be required
to go on access. Even the presence of a trained and caring
supervisor may not be sufficient to prevent re-traumatization.
Supervised Access
Over the past two decades, many people connected with the
Courts have come to appreciate the value of an access supervisor
service. A number of individual services have been developed
in various areas, the largest to date being a service operated
in the Lower Mainland under the auspices of the Corrections
Branch during the 1980s. A few private services, such as the
Greater Vancouver Mediation and Access Supervision Service,
developed by Ms. J. Grafton, have also provided invaluable
assistance in contentious situations. Happily, however, an
access supervision program is being developed as part of the
Family Justice Project. The project office for the Lower Mainland
is the former Burnaby/New Westminster Family Court Counselling
service (660-8636).
Leslie Butler, Family Court Counsellor
Burnaby/New Westminster Family Court
Counselling & Probation Services
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