City Announces New Supervised Child Custody Program Created with Federal Funds; WES Health Systems Wins Contract as New Vendor to Improve Services for Families | Office of Domestic Violence Strategies

PHILADELPHIA – The City of Philadelphia’s Office of Domestic Violence Strategies (ODVS), in collaboration with the Philadelphia Family Court and WES Health Systems, announced the launch of a new supervised custody program to provide free, trauma-informed services to families referred from family court, esp those living in low-income households. The program will also address and enhance the limitations of the Philadelphia Family Court’s previous program.

The new program is the result of several years of advocacy and collaboration among diverse partners to address a service gap created by the COVID-19 pandemic for vulnerable families in the city.

Before the pandemic, the Philadelphia Family Court offered a free space for supervised custody visits and served between 80 and 100 families weekly, but there were several limitations. The service was available only to group supervision, was staffed by volunteer court staff with limited training, and was limited to Sundays. Although there were security checks, the room did not have separate entrances for those with and without bailiffs.

Like many programs, the Family Court Supervised Custody Room was suspended due to the pandemic and has not been able to resume due to limited staff availability. Advocates and lawyers identified the lack of a free, supervised custody program as a problem shortly after it closed.

“Aware of this gap, we worked with the Family Court and local stakeholders to apply for funding to develop an alternative solution – and quickly,” he said Azucena Ugarte, director of the City of Philadelphia’s Office of Domestic Violence Strategies.

“Thanks to the advocacy and experience our diverse partners brought to the table to address this service gap, we were able to advocate for the Senate Appropriations Committee to receive federal funding allocated to the City of Philadelphia to establish an overseen project Custody program,” Ugarte said. “It took a lot of work, but it happened!”

ODVS convened a stakeholder group to identify the specific practices that should be included in a new program and used that feedback to create a request for proposal (RFP). Through a competitive RFP process, WES Health Systems was selected as the vendor. WES is the largest minority-managed behavioral health organization in the Commonwealth and has extensive experience providing trauma-informed services to adults and children in Pennsylvania, Delaware, Illinois and New Jersey.

This new program not only addresses the lack of a free supervised detention center in Philadelphia for the past three years, but also addresses and improves several limitations of the previous program.

According to the WES website, improvements to the facility include:

• Separate entrances and exits for supervisors so that they do not interact.
• A large room for supervised group visits.
• Smaller rooms for more privacy and, if necessary, a higher level of supervision.
• Care time slots are offered both on weekday evenings and on weekends.

WES employees receive appropriate training on trauma, de-escalation and the dynamics of violence in couple relationships. WES staff also provide attendance reports to the court and may distribute them directly to the parties involved or their attorneys.

“Our team has extensive experience providing trauma-informed services to adults and children in Pennsylvania, Delaware, Illinois and New Jersey. We are proud to partner with ODVS and Family Court to prioritize the safety and well-being of children and adults during supervised custody visits,” he says Cherita Reese-Butler, senior director, oversees therapeutic visitation services in Philadelphia and New Jersey.

In the first year, the program will operate on a referral basis only if supervised sessions are part of a Family Court custody order. The judge determines the frequency of the sessions, and when WES contacts the parties, they can determine days and times that work best for them.

For more information about the program, please contact: Cherita Reese-Butler, creese@drwes.org