What is family time?
Family time is when a child or children spends time with a parent or relative who no longer lives with them. Our Centre provides family time in safe and neutral surroundings, using play areas filled with a range of toys and games to make it as relaxed as possible. Family time 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 family time is enjoyable for children and enables them to spend time with the non-resident parent away from any conflict.
What is Improving Child and Family Arrangement Service (ICFA)?
This is the name of the service designed by CAFCASS, to help families agree safe, beneficial and sustainable child arrangements when they are finding it difficult to do so on their own. The ICFA work is short term, for private law cases only, and a referral can only be made by CAFCASS if it is Court ordered. Please talk to your Family Court Adviser for more information, or see the leaflet below.
What is supervised family time?
Supervised family time 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 Centre. 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 family time?
Maintaining family time is for longer term supervised and supported contact arrangements, in which Court proceedings have ended. This is to support an existing relationship between the parent and the child (not introductory work), and where the child wants to continue to maintain contact with their parent. We can facilitate this up to six times a year and for a maximum of two hour sessions on each occasion. This will only take place within the Centre and not in the community.
What is supported family time?
Supported family time will take place within the Centre 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 family time.
What is our indirect/letterbox service?
This is a checking and sending service for cards, letters, emails and parcels between children and non-resident parent or relative. We are also able to provide a supported letterbox service, whereby the child is brought to the Centre and the worker reads through the correspondence with them.
Please see our Frequently Asked Questions for current price list
Making a referral
Referrals can be made to us by parents and any other professionals involved.
