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Family Support and Visitation Center
239 West Main Street
Lancaster, Ohio 43130
Cooperative
Parenting and Divorce Program: (740) 681-7243
Visitation/Exchange Services: (740) 681-7277
Parent Education Services: (740) 689-4813
Remember The Children Classes (740) 689-4797
Fax: (740) 687-6735
Hours
Monday, Tuesday,
Thursday, Friday 8am-5pm
Wednesday 8am-9pm
Saturday 8am-4pm Sunday 5pm-7pm
Our Mission
The mission of the
Family Support and Visitation Center is to support children and
families who have been affected by divorce, separation, abuse,
neglect or domestic violence. Through education and provision of
a safe, comfortable environment, our focus is to promote family
engagement and healthy, meaningful adult/child relationships.
Visitation/Exchange Services
The Visitation
Center is located on the 3rd floor of the JFS building, in four
rooms, two of which are monitored by video camera. All rooms are
furnished with couches and chairs. There are books, toys and
games available so that children and their parents may play and
interact during their time together. It is a place where
children and their nonresidential/noncustodial parent(s) can
experience a “positive” visit in the presence of a third person
who is responsible for observing and documenting the behavior of
the family, and seeking to ensure the safety of those present.
Monitored
Exchanges
Monitored
Exchanges also take place at the Visitation Center. This occurs
when the movement of the child between parents is supervised,
but the visit itself is unsupervised and takes place somewhere
other than the Center. This is to ensure that children are not
traumatized by witnessing conflict between their parents, it
enables parents to abide by no-contact orders, and it provides
safety for domestic violence victims.
A positive visit
or exchange is one where both the child and the parent are
relaxed and the child does not have to worry about questions
that he or she cannot answer, derogatory remarks about the other
parent or guardian, or any inappropriate touching or discipline.
How to Become
Involved
Many families are
referred to the Visitation Center through a Court Order.
Attorneys, community service agencies, and parents may also
request services by completing a
referral form, and faxing
or mailing it to the Center.
Policies
The Family Support
and Visitation Center has rules and policies that must be
followed.
Handbook
Parent Education
One-on-One
Services
Parent Education
works closely with Child Protective Services to identify
families who will benefit from parent education, focusing on the
child welfare population. Services are tailored for each family
and delivered in both the agency and in-home settings.
Parent Education
Classes
Parent
Education Classes are provided to families that are referred
by Child Protective Services. These classes run in an eight week
cycle that continues year round. The Parent Project is a
12-week class for parents of unruly adolescents and is offered
two times a year. All classes are held in the evening.
Cooperative
Parenting Education
Cooperative
Parenting and Divorce is an eight-week class, which combines
video, activities, and group discussion to help parents refocus
their attention on their children, rather than on each other.
The program teaches parents how to shield their children from
parental conflict and establish a positive, long-term
relationship as “co-parents”. The class meets once weekly, for
eight consecutive weeks (
2009 schedule). In many
cases parents are encouraged to take the class at the same time.
Each participant receives a parent guide.
The Cooperative
Parenting and Divorce Program has a cost of $20.00 per
individual.
Remember The
Children
Remember The
Children is a 3 hour parent education class for all parents
who are parties to new divorce, dissolution or legal separation
cases involving minor children, as well as parents who are
involved in past decree motions related to parental rights and
responsibilities.
Staff
Due to the need
for safety and security of everyone involved at the Center, a
security officer is on duty at selected times. The visitation
monitors are trained in basic principles and
practice of supervised visitation as recommended by the
Supervised Visitation Network:
http://svnetwork.net/
FSVC Staff Roster
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