Support for the Creation of a Statewide Supervised Visitation Program (A.65‑A) in the FY 2027 New York State Budget

SUMMARY

The Domestic Violence Committee (Heather Lothrop and Debra Sambataro, Co-Chairs) and the Sex and Law Committee (Natalie R. Birnbaum and Susan E. Cersovsky, Co-Chairs) strongly support including A.65-A (“the Supervised Visitation Bill”) in the FY 2027 New York State Budget, along with $20 million to establish a statewide supervised visitation program. The bill would direct the Office of Victim Services, in consultation with the Office for the Prevention of Domestic Violence, to create accessible, culturally sensitive, and affordable supervised visitation services. The committees argue that supervised visitation by trained professionals is essential for protecting children and survivors of domestic violence during custody and visitation disputes, particularly because many New York counties currently lack such programs and existing services often have long waitlists and financial barriers.

The statement emphasizes that supervised visitation helps safeguard children and survivors from continued abuse, threats, and trauma after separation from an abusive partner, a period when violence and risk often increase. It also benefits families dealing with issues such as parental substance use, mental health challenges, or risk of child abduction by providing a structured and safe way to maintain parent-child relationships. Because current funding for supervised visitation programs is limited and inconsistent, the proposed statewide initiative would address a critical gap in services. The committees conclude that expanding access to supervised visitation is necessary to protect vulnerable families and urge the legislature to allocate $20 million for the program in the final state budget.

REPORT

REPORT BY THE DOMESTIC VIOLENCE COMMITTEE
AND THE SEX AND LAW COMMITTEE

SUPPORT FOR THE CREATION OF A STATEWIDE SUPERVISED VISITATION
PROGRAM (A.65-A) IN THE FY 2027 NEW YORK STATE BUDGET

I. PURPOSE

The Domestic Violence Committee and the Sex AND Law Committee of the New York City Bar Association (“City Bar”) strongly support inclusion of A.65-A (the “Supervised Visitation Bill,” sponsored by AM Hevesi) in the final FY 2027 New York State Budget, including $20 million for a statewide supervised visitation program. The City Bar supports the supervised visitation program because it would expand statewide access to supervised visitation–a crucial tool for the courts to help keep children and survivors of domestic violence safe while litigation is pending.^[1]

Our committees include judges, prosecutors, and attorneys from private practice and nonprofit organizations that represent domestic violence survivors and their children in civil courts, criminal courts, and family courts, and who have a broad range of experience with the issues addressed by the bill.

II. REASON FOR SUPPORT

The New York State Supervised Visitation Bill would direct the Office of Victim Services, in consultation with the Office for the Prevention of Domestic Violence, to establish a statewide supervised visitation initiative including culturally sensitive services that provide language access for those who need it and that are affordable for those with limited means to pay.

A. Free and safe supervised visitation is necessary to protect survivors of domestic violence and their children.

The majority of cases referred for supervised visitation services by the courts include a history of domestic violence.^[2] Accessible supervised visitation by a neutral, professional third party is essential to protect adult survivors of violence and their children. Thirty-two out of 62 counties in New York State do not currently have any program in place for supervised visitation for custody/parental access matters that involve domestic violence, addiction and/or mental health diagnoses.^[3]

To fill the gap, courts often order that a family or community member “resource” supervise visits. These individuals are rarely trained to ensure a child’s physical or emotional safety, rarely educated on domestic violence or other safety issues, and are often unable to safely supervise the parent, putting their own safety at risk as well as the child’s, especially in cases where there is a history of violence within that family.^[4] Moreover, when such a “resource” supervises visits, no objective report from a trained professional is produced for the court, leaving the court with no objective feedback on the parties, and no basis from which to determine whether unsupervised visits are warranted after an initial visitation period.

Where such programs do exist, long waitlists and financial constraints limit parents’ ability to see their children in a safe and structured environment.^[5] In New York City, for example, families are routinely placed on a 3–12-month waitlist.^[6] During that time, the family court cannot move the case forward, creating a ripple effect of delay that prolongs not only separation between a parent and a child, but also creates a backlog in the court’s docket.

Further, survivors of domestic and sexual violence and their children are at heightened risk of violence after separation from the abuser.^[7] 60% of domestic violence survivors experience ongoing threats, stalking, and abuse during post-separation visits and exchanges involving children in common. Children’s exposure to abuse often increases significantly post-separation, too, either because they are in the care of a violent parent without a safe person present, or because the perpetrator’s abuse of the adult victim is now focused on the child.^[8] This is precisely the time when families are in court, and orders of visitation are issued, making supervised visitation programs a critical safety resource, and providing a valuable de-escalation period.

At least 75% of children whose mothers are abused by an intimate partner have witnessed the abuse.^[9] Children exposed to domestic violence are at risk for experiencing neurological brain damage and suffering life-long trauma.^[10] One Kings County case is illustrative: the court ordered supervised visitation after prolonged separation from the abusive father, and a supervisor reported to the court that the child approached the supervisor during a visit to ask if they could leave, expressing fear of the father whom they had witnessed abuse their mother. The supervisor also reported that the child exhibited trauma responses to the father entering the room, including soiling himself and staying physically close to the supervisor. The report describing these events helped the judge decide how to move forward safely and in the child’s best interest, limiting the time between the child and the father to keep the child safe both psychologically and physically. A statewide supervised visitation program is critical to prevent violence and ensure the safety of children and adult survivors.

B. Free and safe supervised visitation also protects children in cases involving risk of abduction, a parent’s mental health challenges or substance use disorders.

Children are also at risk of harm in cases involving allegations of parental substance use, mental health challenges, or risk of abduction. In the latter scenario, supervised visitation permits a parent who is a flight risk to maintain contact with their children where there have been threats or attempts to take the children out of state without the court’s permission. This helps avoid unnecessary separation of children and their parents during critical developmental stages, a separation which can have long-term consequences for the child and permanently damage the parent-child relationship.^[11]

In cases of mental health issues or substance use disorders, there is no child protective agency involved to provide supervision. Supervised visitation provides a pathway to safe and structured repair of the parent-child relationship. For example, a 13-year-old girl who lived with her father regularly visited her mother. However, the mother’s mental health began to deteriorate, prompting the father to file a petition seeking supervision of the mother’s visits. In July that year, the judge issued an order saying that the mother’s visits with the girl should be supervised for her safety. The family was placed on a waitlist for a supervised visitation program. The parties returned to court for a conference in October, but the case could not move forward because supervised visits had not yet begun. The family still remained on the waitlist in November, when the family returned again to court. Five months and three court appearances later, the waitlist had not moved, and the child still had not seen her mother, whom she missed terribly and worried about every day.

C. Existing laws funding supervised visitation are minimal.

Despite constitutional protections for parent-child relationships,^[12] existing laws funding supervised visitation are minimal. The proposed statewide supervised visitation program is the first of its kind, and it fills a huge gap in parental access to their children. Advocates in New York and other states occasionally succeed in requesting one-time appropriations to fund grants to nonprofits operating supervised visitation programs, but none have established statewide supervised visitation programs.^[13] Similarly, only two federal laws authorize or mandate grants to fund supervised visitation across the entire nation: the Violence Against Women Act and the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996.^[14] The small amount of funding that these laws provide is at terrible risk of disappearing.

III. CONCLUSION

Families that need access to supervised visitation are the most vulnerable in our society, facing domestic violence, substance abuse, and/or mental health diagnoses. Free and safe supervised visitation is crucial to protect families and especially children from trauma, be it witnessing domestic violence, substance use disorder or mental illness, in order to reduce the risk of further harm, injury or abduction of children. The lack of these resources for families is a statewide crisis leaving children and survivors unprotected, unsafe, and at risk of suffering further trauma.

For these reasons, the Domestic Violence Committee and the Sex and Law Committee support the inclusion of $20 million for the statewide supervised visitation program in the one-house budgets and urge passage of the Supervised Visitation Bill.

Domestic Violence Committee
Heather Lothrop, Co-Chair
Debra Sambataro, Co-Chair

Sex & Law Committee
Natalie R. Birnbaum, Co-Chair
Susan E. Cersovsky, Co-Chair