Q: Am I required to be in a room with my ex wife when theres a PFA in place?
My ex wife has a pfa against me, we live in the state of PA and share week on week custody of our children. Our daughter is seeing a therapist once a week. The mother had been absent from their lives for the previous 8 months & suddenly came back into their lives. Our therapist is now stating that we must both be in the room with our daughter for her appointments even though they know there us a PFA in place & that we are only to be around each other in the event of a medical emergency. They are stating that she is allowed to come to my appointments I have made for my daughter and that I must be present during the appointments her mother makes. Are they allowed to force us to be in the same room for our daughters appointments? I feel that's a violation of the PFA & the therapist is trying to force actions I dont feel are appropriate. I thought if I made the appointment she couldnt be there & vice versa as long as the appointments were on our respective weeks. Please help!
A: It seems odd that your daughter's therapist would require any parent to be present during her therapy sessions since you have stated that the sessions are for your daughter and not family therapy. Some therapists do make it a practice to meet with one or the other parent individually or with the child for part of a session upon occasion, however. I'd make sure that the therapist understands that this is therapy for your daughter. On the issue of violating the PFA, to be safe, the PFA should be modified to permit both of you to be in the same room for these therapeutic sessions if required. If you have an attorney, I'd discuss this matter with her or him before doing anything.
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