Sometimes when a relationship or marriage ends on particularly bad terms, making arrangements for contact with children can be tricky.
Both parties’ main priority should be the children. Ideally contact with both parents should be maintained throughout the separation process and afterwards. All good Family Solicitors would urge parents to allow and facilitate contact, aside from in extreme circumstances where there are safety or welfare concerns.
What is a Contact Centre?
A contact centre is a safe, neutral place where children of separated families can enjoy contact with their parents (and sometimes grandparents, siblings or other family members) in an unbiased environment with professional supervision if required.
Contact centres are usually tucked out of the way in a quiet location within large towns or cities. They will differ from place to place, some will have many smaller rooms for contact, others will have more space with facilities such as kitchens and lounges where families can spend time together. They may have a range of toys suitable for different age ranges, TVs or even some outside garden space.
They are staffed with professionals who are unbiased and understand the difficulties that families may be encountering.
There are over 400 contact centres in the UK. You can find your nearest one by searching here: https://naccc.org.uk/find-a-centre/
Often referrals are made by the Courts, CAFCASS or Social Services. Some centres offer a free service, others will charge for their use, and this cost will vary depending on where the centre is, whether there is a court-order, private arrangement and what type of services are needed.
What Services are Offered?
Services will range and vary depending on the centre. They tend to include: Supported Contact, Supervised Contact, handover services, letter box services, transportation for children and or parents, venue hire for regular contact sessions or one-off family events.
Some contact centres now assist the court by facilitating a programme called Improving Child and Family Arrangements (ICFA). The service is 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.
Why Use a Contact Centre?
If there have been issues surrounding contact arrangements, trust or wellbeing, then families may find the services of a contact centre useful.
In many cases, contact centres are used when one parent has not had contact with their child or children for some time, and some careful, supported contact is needed to ease back into a more relaxed contact plan. In these cases, a few sessions may take place over a short period of time before trust is built and parents are comfortable for children to spend time in their other parents’ home.
Contact Centres can be very helpful in situations where parents do not have suitable living arrangements to have their children themselves, e.g. they may be ‘sofa surfing’, living in temporary accommodation or living far away.
When there are allegations of domestic violence, abuse, neglect or drug and alcohol use, then a contact centre can provide supervised contact, providing much needed peace of mind.
For some families, a contact centre is used as ‘neutral ground’ for pick ups and drop offs. If ex-partners coming into contact can cause explosive situations or there are issues around new partners, other family members or safeguarding, then a contact centre handover may be useful.
Chances Gives Choices Visit
Our Family Law Team recently visited the Chances Give Choices contact centre, based a short distance from the Lamb Brooks office in Basingstoke.
The team regularly keep in touch with centres, counsellors and other professional support services so that they can offer legal support to those in need and keep up to date with the latest developments or issues affecting families.
The Family Team were welcomed by the Centre Manager Claire Macklin, who showed the team around their new premises and explained how the contact centre may be able to help clients in need of more support with child contact.
Family Legal Advice
When parental relationships are difficult it is important for children to continue to build relationships with both mother and father.
Every family situation is different, and everyone has their own divorce or separation story. It is important to find an agreement that works for both parents and the children that is fair and reasonable.
If you find yourself in need of legal support, then please reach out to our friendly and understanding team of Solicitors who specialise in separation and children matters.
Call us on 01256 844888, email enquiries@lambbrooks.com or speak to our online chat assistant (who is a real person, not a robot).