County’s New Safe Passage Center Enables Supervised Visitation and Monitored Exchange for Families With Court Order

For Immediate Release: Monday, December 11, 2017

The County’s new Safe Passage Center is a “family-friendly” and safe access site for families with a Montgomery County Court Order for shared custody and child visitation.  The Center’s goal is to enable children to remain close to both parents regardless of the family situation or parental conflict.  The Center is staffed by trained visit monitors and security guards who remain neutral in family disputes. It features separate parking lots, entrances and waiting rooms so that parents do not meet on site.

Situations that may necessitate a referral from the Court include domestic violence, mental health concerns, substance abuse issues, child neglect and/or abuse, and family conflict.  Services available at the Center are supervised visitation, which allows parents in high conflict or high-risk situations to maintain their bond with their children and have access to their children in a safe and supervised environment and monitored exchange where staff will supervise the transfer of a child from the residential to the visiting parent at the start of the parent/child contact and back to the residential parent at the end of the contact. 

 

Referrals to the Center are from the District and Circuit Courts.  Services are offered free of charge to Montgomery County residents.  Evening and weekend hours are available to accommodate the needs of families.  Services are by appointment only. 

 

The Safe Passage Center is funded by the County’s Department of Health and Human Services and operated by Family Services, Inc. 

 

For more information call the Center at 301-417-8939 or safepassagecenter@fs-inc.org.

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Release ID: 17-439
Media Contact: Mary Anderson 240-777-6534