Even if they know that their behavior has not been perfect, one of the last things that a parent wants to hear is a threat that they could have their parenting time restricted. The thought of supervised visits can conjure up images of sitting in an office with one’s child and an unfriendly professional who is just watching.
Moreover, supervised visits can be quite expensive. And, in the experience of many, it is hard to get back to unrestricted parenting time once supervised visits have been ordered.
As a previous post discussed, Illinois law makes it difficult for a parent to get an order for supervised parenting time, and for good reasons. Still, a parent who is under the threat of having his or her time restricted should confront those allegations with the utmost seriousness and zeal.
The philosophy at our law office is that Rockford, Illinois, parents deserve to have their full visitation rights, unless, of course, they have done or failed to do something that would prove otherwise. Even then, we believe that a parent should still have the right to show a court that he or she is rehabilitated and can be trusted even in the face of a checkered past.
When defending against a request for supervised parenting time, we first of all demand early and often that the other side show proof of his or her allegations. We will follow up on this information with additional investigation to be sure that the information is correct and not exaggerated or taken out of context. We will also investigate and prepare arguments on behalf of our own client to show that he or she is an able parent capable of exercising full visitation rights.