EVASE: Education Visitation & Safe Exchange

Our EVASE program provides education and relationship management for post separation parenting. This is particularly key for on-going court enforced parenting relationships between people with a history of high conflict, violence or emotional abuse.

• Visitation & Safe Exchange Centers(read more about it)

Our first Visitation and Safe Exchange Center opened in March of 2006 in Lakewood. VASE offers supervised visitation and safe exchanges for parents and families where domestic violence has been an issue in the past. The GATEWAYS for Youth and Families’ VASE centers are modeled after the national Safe Havens model with both a secure family-centered facility and agreed upon protocols for safety of the children, parents, staff and community.

A history of domestic violence isn’t always the underlying issue. Many times there is court ordered supervised visitation or daily or weekend visits for a non-custodial parent. Sometimes parents would prefer not to deal with each other because of other continuing conflicts or because one parent has been out of the picture for an extended period of time. Gateways is able to help with those situations. Here are three reasons for VASE:

• Victims of domestic violence are able to meet their court-ordered visitation requirements while maintaining a no-contact order with the other parent
• Non-custodial parents are able to comply with court-ordered visitation without violating a protective order.
• Children are able to maintain a relationship with both parents free from domestic violence.
• Impact of Divorce on Children (Seminar)

Gateways provides this class which is court-ordered (By Pierce County Superior Court) for all cases filed after Sept. 1, 2000 that require a parenting plan or residential schedule for minors, including divorce, legal separations, major modifications and non-parental custody. These classes must include:

• Developmental stages of childhood
• Stress indicators in children
• Age appropriate expectations of children
• Impact of divorce on children
• Grief process
• Reducing stress in children
• The long-term impact of parental conflict on children
• The importance of the child’s relationship with both parents
• Communication skills of divorced/separated parents

We offer a sliding scale fee and also court ordered waivers are available. We serve approximately 70-100 clients per month with these seminars.

THIS IS THE APPROVED CURRICULUM ORDERED BY PIERCE COUNTY SUPERIOR COURT.

• Understanding HAV* Issues in Post Separation Parenting (Workshop) *hostility, anger or violence

The first in a proposed curriculum series we intend to develop and offer this year, this course is a workshop to assist parents to cope with and manage post separation issues that continue to plague their lives.

Alternative courses are also being developed for parties who are ordered to take the mandatory curriculum that does not generally apply to or adequately address their circumstance, i.e., grandparents and other non-parent custodians and parents who have been separated for a long time and are required to take the course due to a change in the parenting plan.

These courses are not yet available and are not approved by the Court at this time.

VASE: Visitation & Safe Exchange

A GATEWAY for parents to maintain relationships with their children

“VASE provides a safe, practical solution for parents and children who would otherwise be caught up in a needless cycle of conflict in our community. It teaches parents a new way to interact. It is meant to be an educational process with an end date. Our goal is always to work ourselves out of a job.”

IF you are interested in becoming a VASE client, please fill out the intake form or contact our VASE staff for an initial interview. Contact Form

PURPOSE of the VASE CENTERS: Even when a positive relationship between parents does not exist, it is still important for children to maintain contact with both parents. The VASE program offers a safe, secure and supervised location for those visits. We offer visits for those that have been court-ordered and those that have a visitation or a family plan that requires supervision. We also provide a safe exchange, where a third party assists in the exchange of children for parents that may have difficulty meeting face to face. This program was designed with concern for:

• Child safety
• Developing parenting skills
• Preventing lengthy separations of child & parent
• Safety for victims of domestic violence
• Maintaining parent-child relationships

Please note that strict visit protocols are followed. There are staggered arrival and departure times for each parent. There is no contact allowed between visiting and custodial parents. Concern for the child's visit experience is second to the safety of all parties involved.

Two locations:

Our Visitation Center is also available for other organizations to utilize in hosting their own supervised visits. Contact us to find out more about renting this facility.
Please call 253.383.4361 with questions or to enroll in VASE.