It’s generally better for children to remain in contact with both parents after separation or divorce. But this can be hard for many reasons. Some parents find it very difficult to agree to share their children’s time with their ex-partner or extended family members. There may be many reasons for this, but it might be simply that you and your ex-partner have great difficulty communicating and agreeing arrangements. Sometimes it’s too difficult for parents to see each other after separation. If that sounds like you, perhaps our child contact centres can help.
Child contact centres help children and parents by providing a safe, neutral environment away from high-conflict situations so that children can see their parent who does not live with them or other family members, such as grandparents.
What types of contact are there?
Supported in-centre contact is facilitated by contact centre staff who will support children and non-resident parents to meet and spend time together in a welcoming room at the centre. If parents don’t want to meet each other at the centre, this can be arranged.
During a supported handover contact, the child contact centre becomes a venue to pick up and drop off children for out-of-centre contact. Staff support the handover of the child from one parent to the other. A record of attendance is kept and an attendance report can be provided on request.
Supervised in-centre contact is when a trained member of staff observes and supervises the contact between the child and non-resident parent to ensure the safety of those involved. Children and parents can spend time together in a welcoming, neutral environment at the centre.
Video Contact is a new service which has been developed to enable children to have contact with their non-resident parent or other family member, such as a grandparent, via webcam. This type of contact may be appropriate due to distance, disability, travel or legal constraints. A trained supervisor will remain in the child contact centre room with the child at all times during the contact to provide facilitation and supervision. The person requesting contact with the child must have access to the internet and a computer or tablet device with a webcam. Please contact your nearest child contact centre to see if they offer this type of contact.
Factual reports can be provided on request, but not all centres offer this service.
Watch short videos on the types of contact available