Frequency & Duration

To make the process for supervised access easier for clients, please ensure that the Court Order does not stipulate specific times for visits. Dalhousie Place schedules visits based on availability. If the Court Order is too specific, we are forced to place clients on a waiting list for undetermined amounts of time.

Visits are a maximum of 2 hours in length and maximum frequency is once a week. All access visits are offered in a group setting. Please note that while we do our best to facilitate court orders, access times are subject to our availability and hours of operation.

REVIEW MECHANISMS:

Dalhousie Place staff cannot advise families about whether they should continue supervised visits or exchanges. They also cannot advise whether a family should move from visits to exchanges or increase the duration of visits. As a result, a family may remain at the Centre when supervision is no longer necessary, or simply because they are not aware that they can ask the court to change the supervised access order.

It has been found to be helpful when:

• Court orders contain a mechanism for reviewing the ongoing need for supervised access.
• Temporary court orders specify the number of supervised visits or exchanges to occur in addition to a return date.
• Final court orders specify that there is supervised access until such time as the parties agree to a change in the access arrangements or a court order has changed the existing arrangements.