I think supervised visitation is vastly overused and abused. As far as I'm concerned, it should only be used for parents who are being investigated. And then it should be ended. Either the parent is safe or not safe.
Instead, we have dangerous parents who are put on "supervised" indefinitely--until they manage to abduct the child and/or hurt somebody. Or they manage to convince the naive young social workers that they were "unfairly" accused, so they get unsupervised visitation and/or custody--typically with disastrous results for the child.
On the other hand, innocent parents (often protective mothers) can be roped into "supervised" for years on end as well--mostly as a "punishment" by the abuser and their cronies in the courts.
At any rate, these long-term cases become big money makers for these centers.
We're always told that the use of official centers for visitation would eliminate security problems. That turned out to be a crock of @#$%, didn't it.
We're not told much about dad MONTY BAUCH here, except that he has an (unspecified) "felony record" and that he had exhibited (unspecified) "threatening behavior" in the past. Notice that Children's Services was NOT in favor of giving Daddy visitation at all, but they were overruled by the courts. And that Daddy was not arrested. Typical coddling....
Note that this is all about DAD regaining custody, and that there is NOT ONE WORD about Mom. What happened to Mom? Was this a custodial dad? Lots of unanswered questions here....
INVISIBLE MOTHER ALERT
http://www.mansfieldnewsjournal.com/article/20120202/NEWS01/202020335
Dad in videotape case loses visitation
Man left with child during supervised visit at the YMCA
Feb. 2, 2012
Written by Mark Caudill and Lou Whitmire
MANSFIELD -- A judge temporarily ordered a local man to have no contact with his 5-year-old daughter after he took the child during a supervised visit Wednesday morning, according to authorities.
Richland County Juvenile Court Judge Ron Spon issued the order after an incident at the Mansfield Area Y. According to a police report, a case aide from Children Services and a parent aide supervisor not affiliated with the agency said Monty Bauch, 50, left with his daughter before they realized it, using an exit that did not have an alarm.
The girl was in the temporary custody of Children Services, but Bauch's attorney, George Keyser, said his client thought the temporary custody had expired.
"You're supposed to file for an extension within 30 days before one year ends," Keyser said.
Children Services Executive Director Randy Parker said the agency filed the necessary paperwork Jan. 13, but a hearing has not been scheduled.
"We just got done with multiple hearings on Dad's motions to get the girl back to him," Parker said. "No decision has been made on Dad's motions."
Keyser said he did not tell Bauch to take his child.
"We would never have advised him to do something like that," the attorney said. "We want him to follow the law. It's in the court's hands."
Bauch returned the child to juvenile court about 2 1/2 hours after taking her. He was not arrested.
"He volunteered to take the child back to court, and he did," Keyser said.
But he did not return her before police became involved. Chief Dino Sgambellone said police believed they were responding to a crime.
"It's my opinion the way it occurred (was) a possible father absconding with a child, and we take that very seriously," Sgambellone said. "Upon further investigation, through working with juvenile court, we were advised to see that the child be returned. Anything further would be a matter for the court."
Bauch has a felony record, Parker said. He also is the man at the center of a dispute between Children Services and Spon over a missing surveillance tape.
In an email, Parker said the agency took custody of Bauch's daughter in January 2011. In late March, visits were reduced because of Children Services' concerns. Supervised visits resumed in June at the agency.
By November, Parker said, the court allowed visits to take place in public, over the objections of Children Services.
"Despite voiced concerns by (the board) that Bauch had no ties to the community and that we considered him to be a flight risk, when coupled with the threatening behavior exhibited by Bauch during the case from the outset, the court permitted the public visits," Parker said in the email. "Public visits started around the end of November and in less than three months, the concerns expressed by (the board) were exposed by the events of (Wednesday) when Bauch absconded with the child from the unsecure public visitation location."
Spon said public places often are used for visitation.
"An order of the court permitted the father to have visitation with the child at the YMCA to be supervised by a parent aide worker and/or a caseworker from the agency," the judge said. "They are the custodian."
Spon said he canceled visitation "until we find out what went on, as a precaution."
"The main thing was her safe return," he said.