Category: Safe Visitation

When a victim of intimate partner violence has children with the abuser, only a protective order that details a plan for safe visitation with the abuser will keep everyone safe. Unfortunately, far too few judges take the time necessary to separately assess risk and use resources in the community to ensure safety.

Every day domestic violence victims come to Maryland courts to ask for legal protection to help stop the violence immediately and permanently. If they have children with the abuser it is very unlikely that the protective order will actually stop the violent contact.

Victims in Maryland who have children with their abuser are regularly given a “no contact” order that actually requires the victim to see her abuser every other week to exchange the children.

This is a prescription for disaster that perpetuates the trauma and control and all too often leads to injury or death. For the first time, monitored exchange  and supervised visitation are being provided in Montgomery County at the Safe Passage Center in Rockville. But far too few residents have access to these services, and judges order them far too rarely.

Montgomery County 2016 budget adopted; still no safe visitation services

Virtually all protective orders promise “no contact” between victim and abuser – but there is one glaring and dangerous exception. Most judges specifically allow contact between victims and their abusers to exchange their child for court ordered visits. Each exchange can be terrifying & dangerous. For many children, an unsupervised visit with the offending parent is unsafe. […]

Progress on visitation services for troubled families!

A coalition led by Court Watch Montgomery had a very productive meeting Monday, Oct. 19th with County Executive Ike Leggett to advocate for safe, affordable, community-based child exchange and supervised visitation services! Both Mr. Leggett and the head of the Health and Human Services Department voiced great interest in trying to find a way, despite extremely tight […]