Nationwide, the “Grants to States for Access and Visitation” Program (AV) served over 73,000 parents in FY 2006.  The States, (including the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands), accomplished this with a fixed, annual appropriation of $10 million plus the required 10% State match, where applicable.

Number of Parents Served

In FY 1998, the first year AV program services were provided, 21 States opted to participate in the program, and 20,000 parents were served.  In FY 2006, all States but one (Florida) submitted data, and the number of participating parents has tripled compared to the AV program’s first year of service provision.  FY 2006 reflects the highest number of parents served since the AV program’s inception.

Nearly Equal Number of Fathers and Mothers Served

Similar to the data reported in FY 2005, nearly equal numbers of mothers (36,830) and fathers (34,212) participated in State-administered Access and Visitation programs in FY 2006.  In addition, 2,435 grandparents and/or legal guardians were recipients of AV services.

Efforts Continue to Focus on Unmet Access Needs of Unmarried Parents

Approximately 32% of parents served in FY 2006 were unmarried parents.  In addition, divorced parents constituted 19% of parents served; 11% of parents were separated; 10% reported they were married; and 28% were unknown (no data was reported).

Demographics of Parents Served

The majority of parents served in FY 2006 earned a yearly income of less than $20,000.  Based on the race/ethnicity data reported by States, 52% of parents served were white; 21% were African-American; 15% were Hispanic; 2% were Asian-American or Pacific Islander; 1% were American Indian or Alaskan; 1% were Other; and 8% were unknown (no data was reported).

Nationwide, States Deliver a Range of Access/Visitation Services

States determine services to be provided which include those defined in authorizing legislation (i.e., mediation, counseling, parent education, development of parenting plans, and visitation enforcement, including supervised visitation and/or neutral drop-off and pick-up). All services must be related to the overall goal of the AV program which is to “…enable states to establish and administer programs to support and facilitate non-custodial parents’ access to and visitation of their children….”

The majority of States provide more than one service, and in many instances, parents are the recipients of more than one service. Listed below are the number of parents that received each service type and the number of States that provided these services in FY 2006.

Number of parents that received each service type and the number of States that provided these services in FY 2006

Service Type	Number of States	Number of Parents
Mediation	40	17,654
Counseling	31	4,529
Parent Education	36	47,994
Parenting Plans	38	15,340
Visitation Enforcement: Supervised Visitation	46	16,089
Visitation Enforcement: Neutral Drop-Off/Pick-Up	32	5,025

It is important to note that parents are counted once per service and that the amount of time or service hours devoted to each parent is not collected. As a result, parent education yields high numbers of parents served because it usually entails a one-time-only participation in a 2-4 hour seminar. Supervised visitation, on the other hand, is considered a time-intensive service that a noncustodial parent (NCP) utilizes over a period of time usually determined by the court. States do not report on the development of their service guidelines.

Access Services Result in Increased Parenting Time with Children

In FY 2006, approximately 34,212 fathers and 36,830 mothers received access and visitation services. In addition, 25,667 NCPs increased parenting time with their children.

Parent Referral Sources to Access Services

Courts continue to be the primary source of parent referrals (50%) to AV services. Child support agencies completed 22% of parent referrals in FY 2006, a slight drop from 24% in FY 2005.

Local Service Providers

In FY 2006, States contracted with 327 court and/or community-based, non-profit service providers for the delivery of access and visitation services.