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Volunteer Supervised Visitation & Safe Exchange Monitor
Descripción
Descripción
Mommy’s Heart Foundation | New York City | In Person
2 shifts per month | 12-month commitment
Weekend & weekday options | Training & supervision provided
Help create a safe place for children to stay connected to their families
When supervised parenting time is ordered, families may struggle to find an accessible program where visits can safely occur. A 2025 New York State court working group found significant gaps in supervised visitation services, including some programs reporting waits of six months to one year.
For a child, that is a significant amount of time.
Mommy’s Heart Foundation is launching a Supervised Visitation & Safe Exchange Pilot to help provide safe, structured, court-authorized parent-child contact while prioritizing the safety and well-being of children and families.
About Mommy’s Heart Foundation
Mommy’s Heart Foundation is a 501(c)(3) domestic violence-focused social service organization supporting survivors and their children through a holistic, interdisciplinary model.
We recognize that domestic violence and coercive control can affect multiple areas of a survivor’s life, including family and court involvement, housing stability, economic abuse, employment, public benefits, immigration, mental health, and child welfare. Our work connects survivors with legal advocacy and referrals, social services, economic and employment support, mental health resources, and community-based services.
Our Supervised Visitation & Safe Exchange Pilot addresses another critical need for court-involved families.
What You'll Do
Volunteer monitors provide neutral, structured oversight of parent-child visits and safe exchanges. This is not a therapy, mediation, custody evaluation, or advocacy role for either parent.
You will:
- Monitor parent-child visits and safe exchanges in a safe, child-centered setting
- Maintain neutrality, confidentiality, and professional boundaries
- Observe and document interactions objectively
- Complete detailed, contemporaneous case notes following each visit
- Document attendance, duration, observable interactions, and significant incidents
- Follow mandated-reporting, safety, and escalation protocols
- Participate in required training, supervision, and case consultation
Documentation is a core responsibility. Monitors must distinguish observable facts from opinions, assumptions, or clinical conclusions. Case notes may inform objective reports prepared for attorneys or courts.
Who We're Looking For
We are building a trained, rotating team of professionals who can bring sound judgment, consistency, neutrality, and compassion to court-involved families.
We welcome:
- MSW graduates and LMSWs
- Experienced and retired social workers
- Child welfare, foster care, and child protective services professionals
- Current and former court-based professionals
- Domestic violence and victim-services professionals
- Behavioral health and family-services professionals
- Other professionals with significant experience working with children and families
Prior supervised visitation experience is not required. Experienced and retired professionals are strongly encouraged to apply.
Schedule & Commitment
Our rotating volunteer model is designed to provide families with consistency while allowing professionals to make a meaningful contribution without volunteering every week.
Volunteers commit to 2 shifts per month for 12 months.
Choose from:
- Saturday: approximately 7 hours
- Sunday: approximately 7 hours
- Weekday daytime: approximately 3–4 hours
- Weekday afternoon/evening: approximately 3–4 hours
Volunteers may choose Saturday or Sunday and are not required to work both weekend days.
Weekday daytime visits will generally accommodate toddlers and younger children. Afternoon and evening hours will help accommodate school-aged children and working families. Visits will be staggered to support safety, confidentiality, and effective program operations.
Because families will be scheduled based on monitor availability, reliability and continuity are essential.
What You'll Gain
We provide structured training, ongoing supervision, and case consultation.
Whether you are building your career or bringing years of professional experience, this role offers an opportunity to develop or apply specialized skills in:
- Supervised visitation and safe exchange
- Domestic violence and coercive control
- Trauma-informed practice with court-involved families
- Objective behavioral observation and professional case documentation
- Child and family safety, mandated reporting, and professional boundaries
- Interdisciplinary collaboration across social service and legal systems
MSW graduates and early-career professionals can strengthen practical skills and professional judgment while gaining specialized experience with complex family systems.
Experienced and retired professionals can put their expertise to meaningful use and may have opportunities to mentor newer monitors and contribute to training and program development.
Eligible LMSWs may have opportunities for professional or clinical supervision when the work, supervisor qualifications, and applicable licensing requirements permit. Clinical hours are not guaranteed and must be confirmed individually.
Requirements
Applicants should have an MSW degree or relevant professional experience in social work, child welfare, courts, domestic violence, behavioral health, foster care, family services, or another field involving substantial work with children and families.
Strong candidates will demonstrate:
- Excellent observation and written documentation skills
- Sound professional judgment
- Ability to remain neutral and maintain clear boundaries
- Ability to remain calm when families are experiencing conflict or distress
- Commitment to confidentiality and trauma-informed practice
- Reliability and ability to commit to 2 shifts per month for 12 months
Selected volunteers must complete required orientation and training.
Because this role involves direct contact with children, court-involved families, and sensitive information, selected volunteers will also complete reference, credential, and background screening before being assigned to families.
Ready to Make an Impact?
Your professional experience can help a child and family navigate an extraordinarily difficult period with greater safety, consistency, and dignity.
The pilot will also help Mommy’s Heart demonstrate demand, outcomes, and service capacity so we can pursue sustainable funding and expand access to supervised visitation and safe exchange services.
Whether you are beginning your social work career, have spent years working with children and families, or are retired and looking for a meaningful way to put your expertise back into the community, we invite you to help us build this program.
Apply through Idealist with your resume and preferred shift availability. Selected applicants will participate in an interview before moving forward with screening, orientation, and training.
Mommy’s Heart Foundation
501(c)(3) Nonprofit Organization
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Ubicación asociada
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Written Response Instructions
In lieu of a cover letter, please upload one document responding to the three prompts below.
Supervised visitation requires more than experience working with families. Monitors must be able to observe carefully, communicate clearly, exercise sound judgment, maintain professional boundaries, and remain objective when information is incomplete, disputed, or emotionally charged.
These prompts are designed to help us understand how you think and apply your professional experience in practice. Prior supervised visitation experience is not required.
Please respond independently and in your own words. We are not looking for textbook definitions or a particular “right” answer. We are interested in your reasoning, professional judgment, writing, and ability to distinguish between what you observed, what someone reported, and what the available information actually supports.
PROMPT A: Professional Judgment Across Systems
Maximum 200 words
Think of a complex situation from your professional experience involving a child or family and more than one system, such as courts, child welfare, domestic violence services, behavioral health, schools, housing, public benefits, or community services.
Describe how you assessed the situation, identified the most important concerns, determined what was within your role, and decided when to act, consult, refer, or escalate. How did you work with the other professionals or systems involved? Looking back, is there anything you would approach differently today?
PROMPT B: Observation, Documentation & Court Reporting
Maximum 300 words
During a two-hour supervised visit, a parent arrives 12 minutes late. During the first 30 minutes, the parent asks the child four times to sit beside them. The child declines twice and does not respond twice.
The parent later states, “Your other parent must have told you not to talk to me.” The child looks toward the floor and does not respond. When the parent repeats the statement in a louder voice, the child moves to another chair.
Fifteen minutes later, the child initiates a conversation about school. They talk for approximately 10 minutes and complete an activity together for approximately 20 minutes.
Before leaving, the parent asks the child for a hug. The child says, “No,” and moves toward the monitor.
Write a brief case note as you would enter it into the record. Then explain what you consider significant, what quantitative and qualitative information you would preserve if your documentation informed a court-related report, and whether anything warrants intervention or consultation. What additional information, if any, would you want before determining next steps, and what conclusions would you avoid making from these observations alone?
PROMPT C: Safety, DV, Culture & Neutrality
Maximum 300 words
During a scheduled safe exchange, Parent A privately reports being afraid of Parent B because of a history of coercive control and repeated unwanted communication. The existing arrangement requires the parents to remain separated.
Parent B arrives upset, raises their voice, and demands to speak directly with Parent A. Their child is nearby and can hear the interaction. Parent B tells you, “They're turning my child against me. You need to put that in your report.”
You also observe a parent-child interaction that is unfamiliar to you. You are uncertain whether it reflects cultural or family norms, stress or trauma, developmental differences, or a potential child-welfare concern.
Walk us through what you would do and why. Address immediate safety and de-escalation, the child's experience, the existing arrangement, professional boundaries, and what you would document. How would DV dynamics, cultural differences, and your own potential biases inform your awareness without leading you to unsupported conclusions? When would you seek supervision, activate a safety protocol, or consider a mandated-reporting obligation?
Conclude by explaining, in your own words, what neutrality means when working with a family affected by domestic violence.
Submission Instructions
Please combine all three responses into one Word or PDF document and clearly label each section:
Prompt A: Professional Judgment Across Systems
Prompt B: Observation, Documentation & Court Reporting
Prompt C: Safety, DV, Culture & Neutrality
Please stay within the stated word limits.
Save your document as:
LastName_FirstName_WrittenResponses
Upload the completed document as an attachment with your Idealist application.
Your responses will be reviewed together with your resume, professional experience, qualifications, availability, and interview.
