In some cases, parents who are not together will share custody of their child. Maybe the father has custody one week and then the mother has custody the following week.
However, courts don’t always assign equal physical custody rights. In some cases, one parent travels a lot for work and is often out of town, for instance. They may simply have visitation rights, meaning that they can spend time with the child when they’re home, but the child doesn’t really live with them on an exclusive basis.
In other cases, the court will use supervised visitation. This means that the parent will not be alone with the child. Another adult will be there at the same time. This could be a social worker or someone else in a position of authority, or it may simply be the other parent. Why would the court use supervised visitation?
The safety of the child
Essentially, courts are just looking out for the safety of the child if they believe the other parent may be a danger. For example, maybe that parent has a history of drug use or criminal activity. They still want to have a relationship with the child, but the court determines that someone else needs to be present to make sure that the child isn’t put in harm’s way.
After all, the parent may not be an intentional danger to the child. They love the child and wouldn’t harm them on purpose. Maybe they just struggle with drug addiction. Their ex wants to make sure that they never take the child in the car and things of this nature, but is fine with the other parent spending time with the child in a supervised and controlled environment.
These types of custody orders can sometimes be contentious, and it’s important for all involved to understand their legal options.