The Third Branch
Grant to support Dane County visitation center
The Dane County Circuit Court and three human service agencies in Dane County have been awarded a grant from the U.S. Department of Justice's Office on Violence Against Women to develop a supervised visitation center.
Dane County Circuit Court Judge John C. Albert, head of the circuit court's family division, said $50,000 of the grant will be used to plan the center, and $150,000 will be used to implement the supervised visitation program during the next three years.
"All of the four stakeholders are enormously pleased with their successful application for this grant as a supervised visitation center has long been needed in Dane County," Albert said.
In addition to the circuit court, the other partners in the grant application included the Dane County Department of Human Services, Domestic Abuse Intervention Services and the Children's Service Society of Wisconsin.
Visitation centers provide a place for noncustodial parents, separated and/or divorced parents to visit their children while monitored by a trained volunteer. Centers also provide a safe and neutral site for exchanges, where parents can pick up and drop off their children at staggered times to avoid contact with each other.