WEST BEND - For the first time, Washington County has its own site where divided families can begin to reunite.

With the support of several area agencies, The Youth & Family Project Inc. now hosts the Family Corner - Supervised Visitation and Exchange Services program, where parents and children split by court order can have supervised visitation time or exchange custody locally in a safe and home-like environment, said Linda White, program coordinator for Youth & Family Project, 630 Elm St. in West Bend.

Supervised visitations or exchanges are used by the court system and the county’s Human Services Department to assure that a child can have safe contact with a noncustodial person or parent without direct involvement in adult conflicts or other problems, said Lisa Krenke, executive director of Friends of Abused Families Inc.

"Ultimately these tools can protect children and possibly strengthen family units as they go through a crisis, transitional or re-unification period," she said.

The Family Corner program started Feb. 1. Until then, county families divided by court order because of a contention divorce, domestic abuse, neglect or prison sentences had to travel to Fond du Lac or Waukesha facilities for such supervised visitations, Krenke said.

Those visits cost about $35 an hour, Krenke said. The Family Corner is a free service.

"It was quite costly for a family to go to Fond du Lac or Waukesha," she said. "There is no cost for the Family Corner. We received funding from several organizations. So it is free for families in Washington County."

It costs about $50,000 a year to operate the Family Cor-ner, Krenke said. "We have raised enough money to get us through two years."

Friends of Abused Families, which provides crisis intervention and prevention education services on domestic violence and sexual assault, helped develop the Family Corner program, along with the Youth & Family Pro-ject, Washington County Human Servi-ces Department and the Washington County Family Court Commis-sioner.

Trained staff provided by the Youth & Family Project and parent aides from the Human Services Department "ensure safe contact between parent and child who have been ordered by the court system to have supervised visitation time in efforts to protect the child, model parenting and discipline methods, and rebuild the family unit," White explained.

Last year, 40 family from the county had to travel to Fond du Lac or Waukesha for supervised visits or custodial exchanges, Krenke said. "We anticipate that number will rise. One reason the courts did not order more supervised visits was because there was no place in Washington County where families could have supervised visitation or exchanges."

So far, the Family Corner has had five scheduled visitations and the Youth & Family Project is working on scheduling two more referrals, White said. "For the beginning of the program, we’re moving along quite well, actually. I think it’s going great."

Funding for this program was donated by The Faye McBeath Foundation, The Zeigler Family Fund, The Prescott Family Foundation, Community Memorial Hospital, West Bend Mutual Insurance Company Charitable Fund, United Way of Washington County, The Youth & Family Project, Washington County Human Services Department and Friends of Abused Families.

The Youth and Family Project, Inc., founded in 1975, is a private, nonprofit agency with offices in Washington and Ozaukee counties. It provides support, education and counseling services aimed at reuniting a family divided by crisis and enriching family relationships. www.youthandfamilyproject.org.