Columnist Sandy Thompson: Exchange center to make children feel safer

Sandy Thompson

Friday, Sept. 7, 2001 | 4:42 a.m.

Sandy Thompson is vice president/associate editor of the Las Vegas Sun. She can be reached at 259-4025 or e-mail at thompson@lasvegassun.com

WHEN SOME children want to see their Moms or Dads, all they have to do is walk into the next room in their house. Not so for children involved in divorce and custody cases. They usually have to go to the nearest police station or McDonalds to meet their noncustodial parents.

Family Court orders such exchanges at neutral sites when there is threat of domestic violence or when parents can't be civil to each other and create scenes in front of children when the noncustodial parent picks them up for a visit.

Of course, that's not fool-proof. Parents have been known to get into scuffles at the police station. Several years ago, a woman who was supposed to be dropping off her child for visits with the father instead killed him in the parking lot of a children's play center.

To ensure the safety of children during contentious exchanges, Family Court will open its supervised visitation and exchange center late next month. The court is contracting with Palo Verde Child and Family Services to run the program out of a home located in the northwest.

The center will be called Donna's House, named for Donna Hernandez, who was brutally murdered in 1999 by her husband in front of their 3-year-old daughter. Fernando Hernandez was convicted and sentenced to death for the murder.

Donna's House will be a neutral but structured site. Family Court judges will order exchanges or supervised visits to take place there only in the most contentious or domestic violence-related cases.

A licensed professional will interview the parents to evaluate possible violence, substance abuse and other negative issues. Parents will undergo a group orientation and will be required to sign a list of rules. The parents will not see each other during the exchanges or visits. They will arrive and leave at different times, which will prevent one from following or harassing the other.

Donna's House also will handle supervised visitations in which licensed professionals will observe the parent and child and report back to the court. Again, the welfare of the child will be the paramount concern.

The staff will include a security guard. Parents will check in through a time clock. They will be assessed $1 for every minute they are late, which is a common practice in some day-care centers.

In many contentious custody cases, a parent accuses the other of being chronically late or failing to pick up the child at all. This will give the court documentation instead of he-said, she-said accusations. Also, no parent will be allowed to visit a child if he/she appears to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

The staff of Donna's House will receive 25 hours of intensive training in a variety of issues. The staff's goal is not to judge parents, but to help them facilitate positive interaction with their children in an environment where the child feels comfortable. They also will promote appropriate parental behavior.

The cost of the center is about $180,000, which includes start-up and capital costs. It is funded by Family Court and money from the Violence Against Women Act.

That dollar amount, though, is extremely small when you consider what will be saved in emotional and human costs, not to mention the time expended by police who are called when the parents fight and become violent or when there is a disagreement about custody orders. Police sometimes are stymied because they are not sure which parent has a valid court order. Donna's House staff will keep the orders current.

Donna's House expects to handle 90 to 120 people a week. The cost will be $5 per parent per exchange, or $5 per supervised visit.

This will be a win-win situation. Parents will be held accountable for their behavior (and hopefully will learn not to be confrontational) and children will feel safer.

This also will be a tribute to Donna Hernandez, whose seven protective orders against her husband could not save her life. Hopefully, Donna's House will be able to protect other lives.