Clearinghouse on Supervised Visitation 

Clearinghouse on Supervised Visitation, the flagship program of the Institute, has been directed by Ms. Karen Oehme, J. D. since its inception in 1996. Created in through language developed by the Florida Supreme Court, the "clearinghouse" function has been designed to provide supportive services and technical assistance to Florida providers of supervised visitation, the judiciary and to DCF. Among the many accomplishments of the Clearinghouse are the following:

• For the past three years the Clearinghouse has received federal funds from the US Department of Justice, Office of Violence Against Women to expand technical assistance nationally to federally-funded Safe Havens Supervised Visitation grantees. Karen Oehme also provides assistance to the federal Task Force on Supervised Visitation.

• Florida judges were surveyed on their practices relative to orders for supervised visitation; two manuals were written (one for providers on child sexual abuse and one for judges); statewide trainings were conducted and on-going technical assistance provided.

• In 1996 the Clearinghouse received a $100,000 state grant to develop a manual, A Competency-Based Manual for Florida's Supervised Visitation Providers.

• Also in 2004-05, Dr. Robin Perry directed the effort to establish an online data collection system for Florida's supervised visitation programs.

• In 2005-06, DCF funded Dr. Karen Randolph to conduct a pilot program evaluation of supervised visitation services.

• DCF Funding for the 05-06 contract year also supported the first revision of the original training manual; this was published in Spring 2006 in hard copy and online formats. The new publication, A Training Manual for Florida's Supervised Visitation Programs, was issued with an accompanying CD-ROM containing Administrative Materials. It was authored by Dr. Sharon Maxwell and Ms. Karen Oehme, and edited by Dr. Wendy Crook.

• We have the support of program directors of supervised visitation programs statewide. We serve as a liaison between the courts, legislature, DCF and supervised visitation programs. We are named in the Florida Supreme Court's Minimum Standards as the entity that provides training to Florida's programs. Collaborative relationships exist with the FL Council on Sexual Violence, the FL Coalition Against Domestic Violence, and many other statewide advocacy organizations.

• The College of Law and the College of Social Work have had an informal collaboration through the Clearinghouse on Supervised Visitation for over eight years. Many FSU law students have fulfilled their mandatory pro bono requirement by working on Clearinghouse legal research projects with the Program Director, Karen Oehme. In addition, Nat Stern, the John W. and Ashley E. Frost Professor of Law, has co-authored four law review articles with Oehme on supervised visitation:

  • Increasing Safety for Battered Women and Their Children: Creating a Privilege for Supervised Visitation Intake Records, accepted for publication, University of Richmond Law Review, January, 2007.

  • Defending Neutrality in Supervised Visitation to Preserve a Crucial Family Court Service, 35 Southwestern University Law Review 37 (2005).

  • Toward a Coherent Approach to Tort Immunity in Family Court Services, Kentucky Law Journal, Vol. 92, No.2, November 2003.

  • The Troubling Admission of Supervised Visitation Records in Custody Proceedings Temple University Law Review, Vol. 75 No. 2, Summer, 2002.

• The Clearinghouse on Supervised Visitation has developed a large collection of work used in Florida and nationwide:

• The only paper newsletter for supervised visitation providers: The Family Visitation Times, which contains program news, research, training materials and a statewide directory, published twice a year since 1997. Back issues are archived on the website.

• The only newsletter for the legal system on supervised visitation issues: The Bar and Bench Visitation Report, which contains news, research, and practical information for making court referrals safe and appropriate; currently published twice a year since 1999. Back issues are archived on the website.

• The Law Enforcement Guide to Supervised Visitation, first printed in 1998, and available both online and in hard copy.

• Child Sexual Abuse Referrals: A Curriculum for Supervised Visitation Providers. This manual was also created in 2003 and produced as an on-line curriculum with video and voice over in 2004.

• A Toolkit for Collaboration Between Florida's College and Universities and Supervised Visitation Programs, first printed in 2004, available both online and in hard copy.

• A Toolkit for Monitored Exchange Services, first printed in 2005, available online and in hard copy.

• The Data Base on Supervised Visitation, and training material, including a CD-ROM, exclusively for Florida's Supervised Visitation Providers. This web-based Data Base, which began service in 2005, tracks both program and case information, and is a valuable tool for individual programs and for reporting statewide data. The Clearinghouse began collecting data on January 1, 2005, and over 56,000 services (visits/exchanges) have been documented.

• Website for the posting and archiving of SV material, including on-line curricula and archived newsletters.

• Supervised Visitation Program Administrative Materials, which include:

  • Needs Assessment for communities

  • Sample court orders

  • Sample agreements with the court

  • Job descriptions for staff positions

  • Client intake sheets

  • Critical Incident Reports

  • Staff Confidentiality Agreements

  • Letters of Termination

  • Suspension

  • Requests for information

  • Sample Observation Notes

  • And much more.

• Monthly e presses and quarterly memoranda.

• Technical assistance and training to Florida programs, their advisory committees, and pro bono counsel.

• Research on supervised visitation, including articles published online and in law reviews.