How has partnering with Bradley University helped the success of this center?
It was no secret that I had been advocating the creation of a place where we could not only allow parents to exchange children for visitation in a safe environment, but also receive education on how to keep their violence out of the children’s lives. Thanks to some Illinois grant money, we went to work. I wanted a visitation center that not only served to exchange children in safety, but also provide a place for supervised visitation. In my opinion, to do this successfully required a clinical side as well as a legal side. Bradley University, with Dr. Etaugh taking the initiative, agreed to partner with us and we developed one of the prototypes for visitation centers around the state, particularly because of the clinical model created by Bradley. With relationship breakups, there are often very hurt feelings which spill over and catch children in the middle during visitation time. The center’s sole purpose is to provide a place for children to be exchanged during court-ordered visitatio
