Local Clubs Support Safe, Secure, Supervised Visits between Parents and Children

One of the three rooms in which the wdrc's supervised visits take place

The Whatcom Dispute Resolution Center (WDRC) is honored to receive financial support for its Supervised Visitation Program from two local clubs, the Bellingham Bay Rotary Club and the Bellingham Central Lions Club.

Since 2016, the WDRC has worked in partnership with the Whatcom County Court System to provide Supervised Visitation (SV) to Whatcom County families. SV is contact between non-custodial parents and their child(ren), in the presence of a neutral observer who is responsible for ensuring safety.

The WDRC’s program is the only free, safe, and legal way for parents and children to maintain relationships where contact is otherwise disallowed due to terms of a domestic violence protection order, parenting plan, or other court order. For many parents, supervised visits are the only opportunity they have to see their children.

The Bellingham Bay Rotary Club and the Bellingham Central Lions Club have stepped up to help the WDRC make much needed upgrades to the windows in the annex space where the supervised visits occur. Bellingham Bay Rotary Club donated $2,000, and Bellingham Central Lions donated $1,000, to the project.

Thanks to the generosity of these local clubs, the WDRC will be able to install operable windows in the space. The new windows will support increased connections between parents and children by keeping children safer (for example, bees won't fly into the rooms), cooling the space down in the summer, making it more comfortable, and increasing fresh air flow, which provides health and stress-relieving benefits.

Aaron Lemperes, of the Bellingham Bay Rotary Charitable Giving Committee says, “The Bellingham Bay Rotary Club is proud to be a supporter of the important work Whatcom Dispute Resolution Center does in our community to give children and parents a safe way to stay in relationship."

Thanks to the support of community organizations like the Bellingham Bay Rotary Club and the Bellingham Central Lions, the WDRC is able to offer its mediation, training, facilitation, community education, and supervised visitation services at little or no cost to those we serve.