May is Supervised Visitation Awareness Month. This month is dedicated to reflecting and considering how her SVP of WomenSafe is impacting our community at large, especially survivors and their children who use our services. . We also believe that everyone has the right to feel emotionally and physically safe in all relationships and the best place for families to mend wounds is child-focused support. This raises awareness of the space as a positive, nurturing, and neutral space.
The COVID-19 pandemic affects everyone in many ways. People around the world have changed the way they work, spend their leisure time, travel, and even shop for basic necessities such as groceries and clothing. For many, one of the biggest effects the pandemic has had on them is how they view their loved ones. Friends and family are taking drastic steps to ensure the safety of those closest to them.
The supervised visitation program and the families who use the program are also on this journey. Often the first time someone hears about her SVP is right before a court hearing and generally after trauma. Families are introduced to our programs for many reasons, but there are two main reasons why children and their parents reach out through us. First – when there is a safety concern resulting from domestic violence committed by one parent against another parent. Second, the parent’s drug use creates a situation in the home and in the relationship with the child that endangers the safety of the child.
These safety concerns didn’t stop when the pandemic came to Vermont. In fact, the data suggests the opposite. Domestic violence has increased in the last 15 months. However, survivors are often unable to take advantage of available resources due to stay-at-home orders and quarantine restrictions. It also had the unintended effect of allowing us to exercise the power and control of Another unrelated data suggests that drug use is on the rise during the pandemic, especially among those struggling with addiction.
The supervised visitation program adapted safety protocols to include safety from COVID-19 transmission and continued to serve during the pandemic. SVP is a virtual option for supervised visitation that considers the safety needs of survivors and their children while providing the opportunity for visiting parents to maintain contact regardless of the current status of COVID-19 mitigation efforts. is created. It reflected the experiences of families around the world who were unable to meet in person and provided an important and safe link to have the opportunity to continue building relationships and connections. As soon as they were deemed We offer face-to-face visits. We maintain the same standard of child-centered service that considers the safety needs of all participants while providing space for parent-child relationships to continue.
Relationships are one of the most important parts of our common humanity. How our relationships have changed during COVID is something we all continue to process on a daily basis, but one universal aspect has not. This is true regardless of whether contact is made face-to-face or virtually, and remains the very foundation of how healthy connections are formed and kinship strengthened.
