About

Our Story

A Brief History

The Supervised Family Access & Contact Program of SAI was founded in 2007 beginning in Dublin but eventually extending nationwide. The purpose of the program was to provide community-based services to meet the needs of families involved in custody and access disputes, providing a safe, neutral, child-focused environment for visits and exchanges. The program was well received by families and the community.

The Service is provided by a team of trained and garda vetted staff. SAI staff record factual observations and additionally can provide recommendations, considerations or give opinions.

In dealing with the dissolution of marriage and common-law relationships, the courts maintain that in some cases it is in the best interest of the children to have contact with both parents. Many researchers have noted the negative effects of on-going conflict following the divorce and separation process, especially with children who are caught between their parents disputes. SAI staff work very hard to maintain a safe, neutral and child focused program. The fundamental principles of neutrality and safety are paramount in every activity, performed by staff to ensure children are shielded from their parents disputes.

By providing children and parents with the opportunity for neutral and safe visits and exchanges, the supervised access program remains committed to those children and parents caught in conflict and needing a safe environment to maintain relationships between the children and the non-residential parties.

Our Purpose

Objectives

Supervised Access Ireland (SAI) provide a safe and non-threatening, child-focused, neutral environment for visits and exchanges between children and non-residential parties or other persons such as grandparents where there is a concern for the safety of the child and /or the adults using the access service by:

Providing an environment that is non-stigmatizing and accessible.

Where families feel comfortable regardless of their religious, ethnic or socio-economic background, gender, race, ability, sexual orientation or reason for referral;

Providing a safe drop-off/pick-up point where children may be transferred between a residential party or other approved person, and the non-residential party for visits or exchanges;

Helping ease the tensions of access arrangements for children and for both the residential and non-residential parties, eliminating direct contact, reducing opportunities for children to be subjected to conflict at the time of access.

Ensuring the safety of all persons involved in the program, including staff

Creating and maintaining strong liaisons with stakeholders in the community to ensure that supervised access services are meeting the needs of local communities and families using the services

Facilitating families to carry out their access requirements as stipulated by court orders or by written agreement of the parties subject to the availability of the access program.

Directly supervising and monitoring all interactions between participants and children and intervening when the safety, health or welfare of the child or other participants is at risk.

Being an impartial observer and not an agent of either party, to assure that visitation is facilitated without risk to the health, safety or welfare of any child or any adult participant.

Ensuring that both parties are following the Companys policies and procedure guidelines, which are provided to clients during the set up process;

Staff

Supervisors In House Training

All staff have a third level qualification and/or extensive experience. Additionally, at SAI we pride ourselves in providing extensive in-house training for our supervisors including but not limited to:

Child protection training

Covid 19 protection training

First aid

Professional boundaries training

Court appearance training

Managing challenging behaviour

All our staff are Garda vetted.

Family reunification training

Parental alienation training

Basic family law

Child development training

Attachment disorders training

When We Help

Reason for Referrals

Supervised access can provide a safe, supportive setting in a range of circumstances.

Court ordered supervised or supported family access visitation

There is a history of/or allegations of partner abuse and/or where there is an ongoing threat of abuse.

There is a history of/or allegations of physical, sexual and/or emotional abuse of the child where there is fear of such abuse occurring.

There are concerns regarding parenting ability which pose a threat to the safety of the child if contact were not supervised.

The non-residential parent has been absent from the child for a lengthy period of time and the opportunity to re-establish a relationship in a safe, supportive setting is required.

The non-residential party has a history of a drug or an alcohol problem or a psychiatric disability.

There are concerns regarding abduction or a threat of abduction.

There is unresolved conflict between both parties.

Guidance & Support

Advisory Committee

The Advisory Committee is a vital component of our program and is comprised of community members who provide guidance, support and visionary thinking to the staff and volunteers of the program on an on-going basis. Moreover, the committee is responsible for providing a collaborative approach to our program by bringing their variety of experiences from the community to the table.

Membership can include and is not limited to representatives of: the community, mental health and social services, bench and bar, police services, probation and parole,

If you are interested in becoming a member, please contact our main office via email advisorycommittee@supervisedaccessireland.com. A Terms of Reference for the committee will be made available to interested and qualified parties.