Child contact centre

For other uses, see contact centre (disambiguation).

A contact centre is a place where a non-resident parent may have supervised (or supported) contact with his or her children. Its primary role is to support and promote contact between those parents, grandparents, guardians and children that do not have a Residence Order (non-resident parent).

Use of a contact centre may be ordered by a family court in cases where:

United Kingdom

The centres are local projects, run by charities such as Family Mediation and the WRVS, or local churches and are not statutory institutions. The first contact centres in Scotland opened in 1988.

National Association of Child Contact Centres is the supporting membership body for around 350 child contact centres and services located throughout England (including the Channel Isles), Wales and Northern Ireland.[1] It is the largest in Europe. A Nottingham magistrate, Mary Lower, founded the first child contact centre for private law. She went on to form the National Association and is the President. Mary is supported by five Vice Presidents and two patrons - Sir Nicholas Wall and Lord Alton of Liverpool. Now an established charity and company limited by guarantee, NACCC has a board of trustees chaired by Dr Mike Dornan. The team of office and regional staff are led by the Chief Executive, Yvonne Kee.

Families are referred by the courts, CAFCASS officers, family mediators and social workers.

Australia

Children's Contact Services (CCS) are funded under the Government of Australia's "Family Relationship Services Program" (FRSP). The services help with handover of children and also provide supervised contact.

As of 1 February 2004 there were 35 FRSP-funded Children's Contact Services and a number of non-Australian Government funded services.

Israel

In Israel there are the largest number of contact centers per capita in the world, 84 for a population of 8 million. There are no contact centers in the non-Jewish areas. 2500 men are sent to contact centers every year, approximately 40% of all divorces. Conditions are drastic and all forms of abuse take place with no report to the legal courts. In Hebrew מרכז קשר.

See also

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References

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