SVP in This Odd Year
May is Supervised Visitation Awareness Month. This month is set aside to reflect on and consider the ways that the SVP at WomenSafe impacts our community at large, and in particular the survivors and their children who use our services. We also raise awareness that everyone is entitled to feel emotionally and physically safe in all of their relationships, and that the best place for families to repair harm is in a supportive, nurturing and neutral space that is child-focused.
The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted everyone in many different ways. People around the world have changed the ways they work and recreate, their travel habits, and even the ways they shop for basic life necessities like food and clothing. For many, one of the greatest ways that the pandemic has impacted them is how they see their loved loves. Friends and families have taken drastic steps to ensure they keep the people they’re closest to safe. For some, this has meant months without seeing someone they care about in person.
The Supervised Visitation Program, and families that utilize the program, have also been on this journey. Often, the first time someone hears about SVP is shortly before a court hearing and, commonly, following a trauma. Families are referred to our program for a variety of different reasons, but there are two primary reasons a child and their parent will have contact through us: first - when safety concerns exist often stemming from domestic violence that has been perpetrated by one parent towards another parent or child, and second - when a parent’s substance use has created conditions within their home and relationship toward their child where the child’s safety is at risk.
These safety concerns did not stop when the pandemic came to Vermont. In fact, data suggests the opposite. Domestic violence increased over the last 15 months. Survivors, however, have often not been able to utilize available resources due to the constraints of stay-home orders and quarantines. These necessary public health requirements also had the unintended effect of empowering perpetrators of violence to exert more power and control by limiting access even further. Separate and unrelated data also suggests that during the pandemic there has been an uptick in substance use, and in particular for those who already struggle with addiction. This has been further exacerbated by a limit in access to services.
The Supervised Visitation Program remained open and provided services throughout the pandemic, adapting safety protocols to include safety from COVID-19 transmission. The SVP created a virtual option for supervised visitation that considered the safety needs of survivors and their children while also providing the opportunity for the visiting parent to maintain contact, regardless of the present situation with COVID-19 mitigation efforts. This mirrored the experiences of families across the world, who were unable to see each other in person, and provided a vital and safe link to have the opportunity to continue building relationship and connection. As soon as it was deemed safe to do so, SVP opened its doors to families, providing outside based in-person visits with additional COVID-19 mitigation measures in place. Presently, the SVP offers both in-person visitation indoors, outdoors and virtually – maintaining the same standard of child-centric services that considers the safety needs of all participants while providing a space for parent child relationship to continue.
Relationships are one of the most critical parts of our common humanity. The ways our relationships changed during COVID is something all of us continue to process day by day, but one universal aspect did not shift: every person, without exception, is entitled to feel emotionally and physically safe in their interactions with others. This is true regardless of whether contact happens in person or virtually, and remains the very foundation of how healthy connection is formed and kinship is strengthened.