Contact vs Non-Contact Visits at Grants (NENMCF): Who Can Have Physical Contact

At Grants (NENMCF), in-person visits are non-contact by default. This means there's a physical barrier between you and the person you're visiting - no touching, hugging, kissing, or holding hands. The only way to have a contact visit is if you qualify as immediate family and have provided proof of kinship.

Legal spouses count as immediate family for contact visits at NENMCF, as long as you've provided proof of kinship.

Parents also qualify. This includes natural parents, adoptive parents, stepparents, and foster parents - with proof of kinship on file.

Grandparents, brothers, and sisters can have contact visits too, as long as kinship proof has been provided.

Children are included in the immediate-family definition. That means natural children, adopted children, stepchildren, and grandchildren - provided you've supplied proof of kinship.

Aunts, uncles, and cousins don't count as immediate family for contact visits. The exception: a bona fide foster relationship.

Being immediate family isn't enough on its own. You also need to provide proof of kinship. Without it, your visits stay non-contact.

1. Match your relationship to the immediate-family list - Contact visits are tied to immediate-family status and proof of kinship being provided.
2. Ask about the foster-relationship exception if it applies - Aunts, uncles, and cousins are excluded unless a bona fide foster relationship exists.
3. Call to confirm what to submit and where - Get clear instructions from the facility or NMCD Family Constituent Services on what proof they need and how to provide it so your visits aren’t automatically treated as non-contact.