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→Special issues in planning parenting time
====Supervised parenting time====
Access may be restricted where there is a concern that the visits may result in harm to the child. In extreme cases, the court may require that a spouse's access be supervised by a third party. Such supervision may be by a grandparent, another relative, or by a person who specializes in supervising access. There are even companies that provide supervised access services.
The courts are generally reluctant to require supervision as a condition of a spouse seeing a child, but they will do so where:
there has been a history of child abduction or attempts to abduct the child,
there is a history of abuse against the child or the other parent,
the parent has attempted to poison or alienate the child against the other parent or otherwise interfere with the child's relationship with the other parent, or
there are serious concerns about the parent's ability to properly care for the child (this may include the parent having a mental or physical illness).
In general, supervised access is intended to be a short-term solution to a problem, rather than a permanent condition of access. Remember that it is up to the spouse who says someone's access should be supervised to prove why it should be supervised.
====Conditional parenting time====
The children's parenting time with a parent can be ''conditional'' upon the parent doing something, like buckling the kids into car seats when driving, or not doing something, like not smoking around the kids. If the parent fails to meet any of the conditions of their parenting time, they may not be able to spend time with their children until they do meet those conditions.
In general, there need to be some fairly serious concerns about a parent's lifestyle or behaviour, and the risk their lifestyle or behaviour poses to the children, before their parenting time should be conditional.
, the parent's access to the child may reasonably be denied.
In general, the court must have some fairly serious concerns about a parent's lifestyle or behaviour before an access order will be conditional. Conditional access orders have been made in cases such as the following:
a parent was a heavy smoker (the condition being not to expose the child to second-hand smoke),
a parent used drugs or alcohol (not to use drugs or alcohol while with the child and for a period of 24 hours before access), and
a parent was a dangerous driver (not to drive with the child in the car).
In theory, access can be made conditional for pretty much any kind of genuinely bad behaviour on the part of a parent that poses an actual risk to the child.
Supervised access[edit]
====Children's refusal to see a parent====