What is PAV?
Parental Access and Visitation is a program to assist children to have safe and meaningful contact with both parents. Research shows that children do better in the long term when they have both parents safely in their lives. If it’s been more than 2 months since you’ve had contact with your child, you qualify to receive PAV services.
Every situation has its unique set of circumstances that may lead to a child not seeing a parent. Some parents find that with the support of a mediator, they can slowly build a safe plan for children to resume seeing a parent.
What services are offered?
- Consultation with a mediator about your current situation regarding parenting time
- Outreach to the primary parent to facilitate communication regarding parenting time
- Free, confidential mediation with a custody and parenting time mediator
- Referral to legal information services for filing court documents
- Assistance with registration for Multnomah County’s Parent Education Class
- Referral to appropriate social services to address issues that may have led to a parent not seeing their child
What might a plan include?
- Productive and safe communication between parents with support from a mediator through individual consultation and facilitated mediation
- Conversations about …What’s changed? What’s different? Why now?
- Communication between a child and the parent they haven't been seeing. This is often the first step in building or resuming a meaningful relationship.
- A first contact or visit with a child or children. This may serve as a “break the ice” visit that helps lower everyone’s anxiety and slowly builds trust.
- A step-up parenting plan that would start slow and increase over time based on how the child/ren are responding
What if things don’t go as planned?
- Sometimes, even with well meaning efforts, a plan does not come together. Parents can be very disappointed and frustrated.
- Courts may assist in granting parenting time to the parent who has not been seeing the child. However, even the court has difficulty making parents and children do what they are unwilling to do.
- Parents may have challenging relationship dynamics. This may include some or all of the following: Harmful or problematic communication and behavior including abuse, violence, and trauma. The presence of these experiences between parents can make a plan difficult to start and maintain.
- Children may have strong feelings, anxiousness, and confusion about what parents decide or what court may order. It’s important to take a child’s feelings into consideration and to gently support them moving forward.
How do I sign up?
If you are interested in a consultation to discuss your situation, please email the PAV Team at parental.access@multco.us or call 971-393-3288.