About Us

SVN is an international non-profit membership organization consisting of a network of agencies and individuals who are interested in ensuring that children can have safe, conflict-free access to parents with whom they do not reside when there is family conflict or it is deemed that a parent's access to a child should be supervised.

Members of SVN may be:

  • Attorneys
  • Judges
  • Law makers and government employees
  • Private and non-profit providers of child access services
  • Professors
  • Providers of domestic violence services
  • Providers of other family services
  • Social workers
  • Therapists

Board of Directors

The Network is governed by a board of between 13 and 21 SVN members. Whenever possible we attempt to present all of the 5 geographical regions.  Elected at the Annual General Meeting in the October, directors serve three year terms. The Board may also appoint members to serve, but at all times 2/3 of the board must be elected. Learn more about the current Board of Directors.

Our Vision: The Supervised Visitation Network champions a world where all children have safe access to their families

Our Mission: We are a global association of professionals that establishes standards of practice, provides educational opportunities, advocates for access to services and collaborates with stakeholders to maintain family connections.

We do this by:

  • Educating providers, users of services and the public

  • Advocating for accessibility and increased awareness of the importance of well trained providers

  • Promoting collaboration among providers and with related communities, including judicial and social services and sources of support and funding

Purpose:

  • To develop and disseminate standards for practice of child access services.
  • To maintain a directory of providers.
  • To provide public education regarding the importance of children having safe, conflict-free contact with both parents and other family members.
  • To provide public education regarding the role of child access programs in the continuum of services for divorced and separated families and for children in out-of-home placement.
  • To collect and make available research relevant to safe child access.
  • To gather and disseminate training and program materials for child access providers.
  • To provide professional conferences and forums for networking and sharing of information.
  • To educate public and private decision-makers regarding the importance of funding for child access services and provide information on funding to courts and service providers.

Functions

Our members throughout the world provide direct services to children and their families designed to keep families in safe contact.

We help families find services that are convenient to them and will meet their needs by maintaining a directory of services nationwide. We receive many calls from parents, attorneys, social workers, judges, and others looking for services in their area. Our goal is to have a comprehensive directory so services can easily be found by the families that need them. You can access this directory by clicking on the Directory of Providers link in the navigation bar.

We collect and disseminate research information relevant to safe child access and provide public education regarding the importance of children having access to their parents.

We work to improve the quality of services. This is accomplished in several ways:

  • We develop and disseminate standards for practice.
  • We provide opportunities for members to network with each other and exchange information that will help them in their practice.
  • We hold an annual conference that provides outstanding training for service providers.
  • We disseminate resources and helpful information to members through our newsletter and on our web site.
  • We maintain a library of training and program materials.
  • We encourage the development of new programs in under-served areas and provide support through our members for new and developing programs.
  • We share information with each other about funding sources that will help provide affordable services.

Supervised Visitation Network

3955 Riverside Avenue

Jacksonville, Florida 32205

(904) 419-7861