What is contact?
Contact is the time a child or children spends with a parent or relative who no longer lives with them. Our Centre provides contact in safe and neutral surroundings, using play areas filled with a range of toys and games to make it as relaxed as possible. Contact can be either supervised (both inside and outside the Centre), maintaining, supported, handover (collection and return venue only) and indirect.
Our priority is to ensure contact is enjoyable for children and enables them to spend time with the contact party away from any conflict.
What is supervised contact?
Supervised contact means that someone will always be in sight and sound of the child/ren and will monitor conversations and provide assistance or intervention if necessary. This can take place inside or outside the building. A written summary of each session will be provided to both parties. This is a short term service and can be offered weekly, fortnightly or four-weekly for a maximum of two hours.
What is maintaining contact?
Maintaining contact is for longer term supervised and supported contact arrangements. We can only facilitate this up to six times a year for a maximum of two hour sessions.
What is supported contact?
Supported contact will take place within the building but a worker is not always in sight and sound of the children.
What is handover?
Our handover service is a pick up and/or drop off collection venue in order facilitate unsupervised contact.
What is indirect/letterbox contact?
This is a checking and sending service for cards, letters and parcels between children and non-resident parent or relative.
Making a referral
Referrals can be made to us by parents and any other professionals involved.
