Therapeutically Time
When parents exhibit more extreme behaviors, or when parent-child relationships are particularly strained or even nonexistent, therapeutically supervised parenting time may be appropriate. In these situations, a mental health professional is likely to oversee a parent’s time with their child(ren) and provide real-time suggestion and coaching on appropriate interaction. In situations such as this, a parent may need to learn how to appropriately interact with their children or otherwise act parent-like. In other circumstances, the mental health provider may take notes and make assessments while a parent interacts with their child(ren), and subsequently, provide recommendations to the parent after the parenting time session.
Supervised Parenting Time
Outside of a therapeutic setting, the possibilities for supervised parenting time are greatly expanded. Supervised parenting time may occur at any number of locations, such as a facility specializing in providing supervised parenting time; a mental health professional’s office; a parent’s home; relative’s house; public place; or many other locations. Beyond that, there are plenty of different individuals who may be capable of providing supervision, such as a mental health worker; family member; a family friend; or other mutually agreed upon third party. Here, the primary focus of supervision is to ward against whatever negative behavior that may have precipitated the requirement of supervised parenting time. Therefore in these situations, generally, a capable and responsible adult may provide sufficient supervision of a parent’s parenting time.
