The plain-English summary
Florida regulates supervised visitation through a combination of statute and court rule rather than a single license. The key pieces: Chapter 61, Florida Statutes (parenting plans and time-sharing), the Florida Supreme Court's Minimum Standards for Supervised Visitation Programs, and Chapter 753, Florida Statutes, which addresses court-connected family visitation networks. Together they define what supervised visitation is supposed to look like when a Florida court orders it.
Chapter 61 — where supervised time-sharing comes from
Florida family courts operate under Chapter 61, Florida Statutes. Section 61.13 requires every case involving minor children to include a parenting plan, and gives the court authority to shape time-sharing around the best interests of the child — including ordering that a parent's time-sharing be supervised. When supervision or other protections are built in, the plan is often drafted on Florida's safety-focused parenting plan form, one of the Supreme Court Approved Family Law Forms.
Related provisions bring in other professionals: § 61.125 (parenting coordinators), § 61.20 (social investigations), and Chapter 741 (domestic violence injunctions, which can carry their own time-sharing conditions).
The Supreme Court Minimum Standards
The Florida Supreme Court has adopted Minimum Standards for Supervised Visitation Programs — a framework originally developed through the court system's Family Court Steering Committee. The standards address, among other things:
- Neutrality — the program and its supervisors must not have a conflicting relationship with either party
- Safety protocols — intake screening, separate arrivals and departures, and procedures for terminating a visit
- Staff qualifications and training — including background screening of supervisors
- Record-keeping and reporting — factual, observational documentation of each visit
- Confidentiality — how records are maintained and released
The standards were written for court-connected programs — programs that receive referrals through agreements with the chief judge of a circuit. Private providers are not automatically bound by them, but they represent the clearest statement of what Florida courts expect supervision to look like, and quality private providers build their protocols around them.
Chapter 753 — family visitation networks
Chapter 753, Florida Statutes, establishes the framework for Florida's supervised visitation and exchange programs and directs the development of standards for programs serving families in dependency cases. It also anchors the Clearinghouse on Supervised Visitation at the Florida State University Institute for Family Violence Studies, which publishes training materials and research used by programs statewide.
Where supervised visitation fits in your order
Supervised visitation providers are not formally "appointed" the way a guardian ad litem is — most Miami-Dade orders simply require that a parent's time-sharing be supervised by a qualified professional, with the parties left to select one. Either way, the provider's role is documented in the order: scope (supervised visits and/or monitored exchanges), frequency, duration, reporting obligations, and which party is responsible for cost.
Key practical implications for parents
- The order controls. Whatever the court order or parenting plan says about the supervised visitation arrangement governs. Read your order carefully.
- You usually have provider choice. Most Miami-Dade orders specify the requirement ("professional supervision") without naming a specific company. Both parties are free to select a qualified provider.
- Fee allocation is in the order. Whoever the order says pays, pays. Disputes about allocation are addressed by motion back to the court.
- The supervisor's records may be subpoenaed. TruVisit Miami's reports are built to withstand subpoena and possible testimony.
- The supervisor is neutral. By design and by professional obligation. The supervisor does not advocate for either party.
Reading your court order — what to look for
If your order references supervised visitation, here are the specifics worth identifying:
- Type of supervision — full supervised visitation? monitored exchange? therapeutic visitation? a combination?
- Frequency — how often are visits ordered?
- Duration — length of each visit; total duration of the supervised arrangement
- Location requirements — does the order specify a type of location? a specific geographic area?
- Conditions on visits — restrictions on topics of conversation, prohibited items, gifts, etc.
- Reporting — who receives reports? how often? in what format?
- Cost allocation — who pays
- Modification / step-down criteria — what would trigger a change in the arrangement?
If your case involves multiple court-appointed professionals
Complex family law cases sometimes involve several professionals simultaneously — a parenting coordinator, a guardian ad litem, a social investigator, and a supervised visitation provider. Each has a defined scope under the relevant order or statute. Coordination among them is typically managed by the parties' attorneys or, in pro se cases, by the parties themselves with direction from the court.
What this means in practice for working with TruVisit Miami
If your order references "professional supervised visitation" without naming a provider, TruVisit Miami can be that provider. We work with court orders out of the Family Division of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit, and our protocols are built around the expectations reflected in Florida's minimum standards — neutrality, safety screening, background-checked supervisors, and factual court-formatted reporting. Our intake process includes a review of your order — we'll flag anything ambiguous and make sure our reporting format matches what your order requires.