FAQ Professionals

Supported contact centres do not provide direct supervision and they are usually run by volunteers. With this in mind they tend to work with less complex families that are assessed to pose a lower level of risk.

Supervised contact centres are particularly skilled at working with high risk or complex families. Each centre has specific skills and expertise so may be able to offer slightly differing ranges of service. Centres also produce risk assessments as part of the referral process that are regularly reviewed, this allows them to ensure that they understand any potential risks and that they have the appropriate resources to manage these.

The NACCC ‘Find a Centre Tool’ will provide information about services near you. We always advise speaking with them to find out what services might be available locally.

here.

Most child contact centres accept private law (divorce & separation) and public law (child protection) based referrals. However, all centres have the right to decline any referral that they feel are not appropriate for their centre, so it is always worth checking this with the individual centre. All referrals are subject to a risk assessment.

Most child contact centres accept private law (divorce & separation) and public law (child protection) based referrals. However, all centres have the right to decline any referral that they feel are not appropriate for their centre, so it is always worth checking this with the individual centre. All referrals are subject to a risk assessment.

As a rule, supported centres work with families that do not require direct supervision. This means that staff will not be within sight and sound of children at all times. They will not be making observations or recordings. A supported centre works with families where the level of risk is low and there is a clear plan for the family to be able to move on to more suitable arrangements. At a supported centre it is generally expected that parents will take full responsibility for the child during the session. Supported centre would typically take place within a contact centre where other families might also be present. Contact often progresses to handover sessions prior to families moving on from the service.

Supervised contact is generally used for higher risk families. It might be the case that staff need to be within sight and sound of the child at all times to ensure the safety and wellbeing of the child. In a supervised session the staff will be within sight and sound of the child at all times. They will be better placed to undertake basic care tasks, to teach parents to do this, or to assess parenting capacity. Supervised contact can be withing a contact centre or other building. It is often also possible for families to have contact in community locations, once the contact service is satisfied that this is safe. Typical progression from a supervised centre would be to supported contact although it is also possible to progress to handovers.

NACCC have the following table that can be used as a guide when considering whether to refer a family for supported or supervised contact, although it is also worth discussing this with your local centre who be able to advise further.

Preparing children for the use of child contact centres is key to the service going well. Children will be experiencing a wide range of feelings and emotions and these can be exacerbated by previous experiences of trauma for example.

Children will often worry about upsetting one or the other parent by having contact and will often place themselves in the impossible situation of trying to appease the needs of both parents at once. Where this happens, this can be particularly upsetting and distressing for children and in some circumstances their parents too. For example, children might choose to tell a parent that their time with the other parent is “horrible” or “boring”, they might also share experiences that are reportedly occurred when spending time with the other parent that might be out of context or not factual. They do this because they think this is what the parent wants to hear, and in some cases this might well be true. However, what this also does is creates an environment where parents are increasingly fractious towards each other and the situation, therefore making it harder for them to be able to communicate and work together in the interests of the children. In some cases, the child’s perceived need to appease their parents like this can lead to child protection referrals or police investigations. 

Understanding the needs of children and working with them to ensure these needs are met, (so far as is possible)  is crucial for the whole family, their ability to engage with services and most importantly their ability to be able to move on from services.

In order to support children, some of the following might assist:

The NACCC website has a range of stories and other information that a resident parent could look at with their child. This would allow the child the opportunity to understand the role of the child contact centre and how they will be supported whilst using this service.

There are a range of stories on Amazon about family break up. These can be helpful in terms of helping children to understand what has been happening in their family and what will be happening in the future.

Sesame Street do a range of cartoons that cover some of the difficulties that families face, these can be readily accessed through an internet search engine and these do an excellent job at presenting information in a way that is accessible to children.

The NACCC website also has resources for children. Our website has been specifically designed around the needs of children. We know that sometimes the people caring for children are not best placed to support those children to prepare for contact sessions. This is not a reflection on the parenting capacity of that person, or a judgement of their character. The reason that parents often find this difficult relates more to their own feelings and emotions following the end of the relationship and therefore their ability to share positive information with their children which will help them to become excited about contact. There is a wealth of information there that is accessible and designed to reassure children whilst also helping them to anticipate what the future might look like. Additionally, NACCC also has an app and a range of stories that parents could support children to be able to access.

The parents that have children living with them are often well placed to take meaningful steps to prepare children for face to face contact. How look will vary from child to child and family to family, but typically it might include:

1. It being ok or better still encouraged to talk about contact and the other parent at home. Making something “ok” goes much further than saying it. Children must genuinely feel it.
2. Children should have a safe place to be able to ask questions about contact and where possible these should be answered as positively as possible.
3. Children might be helped to remember positive memories relating to the other parent, so that they are able to remember better times.
4. Children having access to photographs of the parent it is proposed that they will be sharing time with.
5. Children should also be offered the opportunity to have a pre-visit at the centre so that they have information shared with them as a level they are able to make sense of.

Child contact centres will also have a range of ways that they support children to access services. These can vary and might include pre-visits or the use of resources. Other centres might also offer introductory sessions where children are prepared for the contact, prior to this taking place. This can happen face to face at the centre, or increasingly centres are finding innovative ways of using technology to support families to feel safe and supported when accessing services. The key is that every child and every situation is different, and centres will have the skills to develop their responses to families to ensure they are supported in such a way that best meets their needs.

As a professional, there are also a range of tools and resources that you might use when working with children. Many of these have already been mentioned, others might include tools like “three houses”, which can be utilised to make sense of a child’s world and their view of this with a view to supporting them to be able to move on.

Professionals are able to mediate between parents and initiate referrals at a child contact centre. You might be able to access a referral form from the website of the centre you want to use. In this case there would also be some complimentary information helping you to understand the referral process. Regardless of whether you can access a referral form from a website, it is often worth calling the centre and having a discussion with them prior to completing the paperwork. They will be able to guide you through the referral process and often they will be happy to help you ascertain whether they are the most appropriate service for your family, if not, they will usually know who is.

Parents and children will naturally be anxious about being separated from one another, this anxiety is often increased where there has been past trauma. It is often helpful to reassure people who might be anxious that child contact centres are safe places that have the interests of the child at the core of their work.

Centres will be quite familiar with supporting adults and children that need a little reassurance and often they will have tried and tested ways of helping individuals to engage and feel safe. Bearing in mind your professional knowledge of family, centres will often welcome any guidance you might be able to offer in meeting their needs. Centres often feel that external professionals do not work closely enough with them, so will often wholeheartedly embrace offers of support from proactive professionals.

On the NACCC website you will find information about the basic processes that centres go through in order to prepare families for the services they will receive. This information can often be helpful and reassuring. At the point of pre-visit parents’ emotions can run particularly high so parents might appreciate you supporting them to prepare or checking in with them after the session.

It is also wise to contact the centre, or to encourage the parent to do this. They will have a range of information about their service and how this operates that they will be happy to go through with you in the interests of being supportive.

Child contact centres work on the basis that they are providing a short term stepping-stone in families’ lives. In most cases it should be expected that a centre will be needed for no more than 3-6 months, although this is obviously different for some families and for Looked After Children. Every case is assessed and planned for on an individual basis and centres are usually well placed to meet the needs of the families using their services.

Contact centres often have a review session where they consider the contact moving forwards. This could be from supervised contact to supported contact. Contact centres also offer handovers into the community. The young person can be signed into the centre on the register and then the contact person can take the young person out for the time of the contact session and then sign the person back in. This helps to build confidence before contact progresses without the centre.

The contact centre also provide parenting plans and these consider many areas of a young person’s welfare. This is a helpful tool to help the adults make informed decisions for the young person and how to safely move contact forwards. The parenting plan can be found on the NACCC website and it would be beneficial for every parent to have sight of one before contact commences.

Often the amount of time that it will take to process a referral with vary based on a number of factors. Typically, the best advice is to contact your nearest centre and discuss this with them so that they can give you the most accurate answer.

Your local centre may have published the costs of contact on our ‘Find a centre’ service. Do search to see if the centre’s prices are showing or contact the centre direct for full details.

The price of child contact is often dependant on several factors and the cost can vary significantly. Elements that can effect cost can relate to how the centre is funded, the range of services on offer, the expertise of staff offering a service as well as the cost of all of the usual overheads associated with running a service. 

Sometimes, this cost will be covered by Cafcass or Social Services, on other occasions you might be responsible for paying any associated fees.

Being a membership organisation, NACCC does not have any involvement with charges for services. Please check with your local centre for any enquiries on costs for their services.

Many centres are aware of how finance can be a barrier to children having contact and they might have a way of being able to support with this or signposting to other services that have the resource to be able to support. Whilst, we can’t guarantee a solution that will suite all, it might be worth having a discussion with your local centre.

Other organisations like Families Need Fathers, Match Mothers and Only Mums or Only Dads might also have information that might assist here.

Typically, it is allowable for external professionals to sit in on child contact sessions, in both supported and supervised contact. There are many reasons why this might be necessary, which can vary from gathering information for PAMS assessments to making observations for a section 7 report.

It is advisable to contact the local centre to see what arrangements can be put in place. The family you are working with, will have been told what information is being recorded and how this will be shared. It is therefore, important that you also make sure people are aware of the scope of your attendance and how you will be using any observations made.

You do not need any particular qualifications to work as a Supported Child Contact Centre Co-ordinator, but co-ordinator training and annual safeguarding training will be mandatory once you start work. You will also need to complete the mandatory NACCC training programme. You should have appropriate qualifications and/or experience in working directly with parents or children. A knowledge of child development and good team-working skills would be helpful. Many supported child contact centres are open at weekends so the ability to work weekends and unsocial hours would be helpful.

If you want to apply to be a Supervised Child Contact Centre Contact Worker, undertaking supervision of contact, then you must be able to demonstrate that you have an appropriate vocational or academic qualification. The minimum requirement is an NVQ Level 3 in Child or Social Care with GSCE English and Maths Grade C or above. The following skills, experience and personal qualities are also likely to be either essential or desirable:

• Understanding of family dynamics, the impact on children and parents of family breakdown and current related issues.
• Demonstrable knowledge and understanding of Family Law, in particular as it relates to separated families and the provision of contact.
• Ability to make detailed observations and provide accurate reports.
• Demonstrable competence in identifying need and assisting in support of an overall programme of intervention and casework.
• Knowledge of safeguarding children and child protection, with an understanding of key risk factors.
• Knowledge and understanding of the role of the (Local Authority) Designated Officer.
• Capacity to anticipate, diffuse and manage conflict.
• Knowledge and understanding of other related initiatives and fields, e.g. adult mental health, parenting techniques, domestic violence, family law.
• Ability to work closely and non-judgementally with other people, showing an understanding of boundaries and a commitment to equal opportunities and anti-discriminatory working.
• Excellent communication skills with all ages and ability to provide clear, written information.
• Ability to deal sensitively with people under stress.
• IT skills.
• Positive attitude towards training and development.
• Willingness to work flexibly and outside office hours.

If you want to apply to be a Supervised Child Contact Centre Co-ordinator a formal qualification is desirable (Dip.SW,CQSW or other recognised social work qualification). The following skills, experience, and personal qualities are also likely to be either essential or desirable.

• Minimum of three years’ experience working with children or caring for children within a statutory setting.
• Experience in child-centred work with specific knowledge/and or experience in fostering, adoption, teaching or family work.
• Experience of managing a team of volunteers and staff.
• Experience of reporting to a board and/or committee.
• Ability to demonstrate a good understanding of the impact of race, culture and religion on families and children.
• Good understanding of safeguarding procedures and processes.
• Ability to communicate effectively with a wide range of people.
• An understanding of parental and carer conflict following family breakdown.
• Ability to support families with signposting to appropriate agencies.
• Ability to work directly with traumatised children in a sensitive and supportive manner.
• Excellent recording and report-writing skills.
• Ability to lead and develop a team through regular support.
• Excellent time management and organisational skills.
• A commitment to the welfare of the child as a priority in the work and decision-making.
• Ability to work alone and as part of a team.
• Ability to work flexibly in accordance to the needs of the role.

You do not need any qualifications to volunteer at a supported centre. All the training that is needed for the role will be provided by the people who run the service. NACCC has a range of training modules available to support this process.

Supported contact will not be suitable for any situation involving risk to children or adults; supported contact centres do not supervise contact or write reports but offer facilities where a family needs this for a defined period of time. They should only be used where safe and beneficial contact for the child can clearly take place.

Generally, the main differences between supported contact and supervised contact are as follows:

*See also ‘How can I decide which level of contact is appropriate for the family I’m working with?’

Every centre will have an established referral process and this will be slightly different at every centre so it is always worth checking with them to be sure.

A typical process might look similar to the outline below:

1. Referral form completed and sent to centre.
2. This will be reviewed by a senior person or another person administering the referral process.
3. Contact will be made with parents and professionals to review and confirm information in referral form.
4. Risk assessment will be written so that the centre can understand and plan for any potential risk.
5. Contact plan will be drafted.
6. Pre-visit will be planned.
7. Pre-visit with both parents will take place. Often referral information will be confirmed here. Plans and agreements will be signed.
8. Risk assessment will be reviewed following pre-visit.
9. First session will be planned.

The range of services available at child contact centres will vary from centre to centre. Often contact will be one of many services that are provided at a centre.

Other services accessible at different centres might include:

• Parenting assessment.
• Drug or alcohol testing.
• Parenting support / teaching.
• Play and stay.
• Toy library.
• Life story.
• Counselling / therapy.
• And so on.

However, every centre is different. Why not contact your local services to find out how they might be able to help?

Visiting a centre to plan for child contact can be something that parents feel very nervous about. This is perfectly normal and to be expected. It is worth remembering that parents will still be going through the stages of loss and separation in terms of their relationship with the children’s other parent. It is also possible that they will have a range of feelings or emotions toward this person.

Parents will often have their own reasons for not wanting to use a contact centre and will often feel judged or under the microscope. It is also the case that resident parents might be worried about using a contact centre because they are concerned that domestic (or any other) abuse will continue to take place whilst at the centre.

Prior to visiting the centre, and depending on the specifics of a family the following might be helpful:

1. Speaking with the centre co-ordinator by phone can often be reassuring. The parent will be able to make sense of what the meeting will be about and how the time will be used. Centres are very used to supporting people in this way and will not have a problem with providing reassurance.
2. The centre may have a website, that parents might find helpful.
3. The NACCC website has a range of information. This will be reassuring for parents visiting a centre for the first time and help them to prepare.
4. The NACCC website also has resources for children. Our website has been specifically designed around the needs of children. We know that sometimes the people caring for children are not best placed to support those children to prepare for contact sessions. This is not a reflection on the parenting capacity of that person, or a judgement of their character. The reason that parents often find this difficult relates more to their own feelings and emotions following the end of the relationship and therefore their ability to share positive information with their children which will help them to become excited about contact. There is a wealth of information there that is accessible and designed to reassure children whilst also helping them to anticipate what the future might look like. Additionally, NACCC also has an app and a range of stories that parents could support their children to be able to access.
5. The parents that have children living with them are often well placed to take meaningful steps to prepare children for face to face contact. How these look will vary from child to child and family to family, but typically it might include:
   • It being ok or better still encouraged to talk about contact and the other parent at home. Making something “ok” goes much further than saying it. Children must genuinely feel it.
   • Children should have a safe place to be able to ask questions about contact and where possible these should be answered as positively as possible.
   • Children might be helped to remember positive memories relating to the other parent, so that they are able to remember better times.
   • Children having access to photographs of the parent it is proposed that they will be sharing time with.
   • Children should also be offered the opportunity to have a pre-visit at the centre so that they have information shared with them as a level they are able to make sense of.

Preparing children for the use of child contact centres is key to the service going well. Children will be experiencing a wide range of feelings and emotions and these can be exacerbated by previous experiences of trauma for example.

Children will often worry about upsetting one or the other parent by having contact and will often place themselves in the impossible situation of trying to appease the needs of both parents at once. Where this happens, this can be particularly upsetting and distressing for children and in some circumstances their parents too. For example, children might choose to tell a parent that their time with the other parent is “horrible” or “boring”, they might also share experiences that are reportedly occurred when spending time with the other parent that might be out of context or not factual. They do this because they think this is what the parent wants to hear, and in some cases this might well be true. However, what this also does is creates an environment where parents are increasingly fractious towards each other and the situation, therefore making it harder for them to be able to communicate and work together in the interests of the children. In some cases, the child’s perceived need to appease their parents like this can lead to child protection referrals or police investigations. 

Understanding the needs of children and working with them to ensure these needs are met, (so far as is possible)  is crucial for the whole family, their ability to engage with services and most importantly their ability to be able to move on from services.

In order to support children, some of the following might assist:

The NACCC website has a range of stories and other information that a resident parent could look at with their child. This would allow the child the opportunity to understand the role of the child contact centre and how they will be supported whilst using this service.

There are a range of stories on Amazon about family break up. These can be helpful in terms of helping children to understand what has been happening in their family and what will be happening in the future.

Sesame Street do a range of cartoons that cover some of the difficulties that families face, these can be readily accessed through an internet search engine and these do an excellent job at presenting information in a way that is accessible to children.

The NACCC website also has resources for children. Our website has been specifically designed around the needs of children. We know that sometimes the people caring for children are not best placed to support those children to prepare for contact sessions. This is not a reflection on the parenting capacity of that person, or a judgement of their character. The reason that parents often find this difficult relates more to their own feelings and emotions following the end of the relationship and therefore their ability to share positive information with their children which will help them to become excited about contact. There is a wealth of information there that is accessible and designed to reassure children whilst also helping them to anticipate what the future might look like. Additionally, NACCC also has an app and a range of stories that parents could support children to be able to access.

The parents that have children living with them are often well placed to take meaningful steps to prepare children for face to face contact. How look will vary from child to child and family to family, but typically it might include:

1. It being ok or better still encouraged to talk about contact and the other parent at home. Making something “ok” goes much further than saying it. Children must genuinely feel it.
2. Children should have a safe place to be able to ask questions about contact and where possible these should be answered as positively as possible.
3. Children might be helped to remember positive memories relating to the other parent, so that they are able to remember better times.
4. Children having access to photographs of the parent it is proposed that they will be sharing time with.
5. Children should also be offered the opportunity to have a pre-visit at the centre so that they have information shared with them as a level they are able to make sense of.

Child contact centres will also have a range of ways that they support children to access services. These can vary and might include pre-visits or the use of resources. Other centres might also offer introductory sessions where children are prepared for the contact, prior to this taking place. This can happen face to face at the centre, or increasingly centres are finding innovative ways of using technology to support families to feel safe and supported when accessing services. The key is that every child and every situation is different, and centres will have the skills to develop their responses to families to ensure they are supported in such a way that best meets their needs.

As a professional, there are also a range of tools and resources that you might use when working with children. Many of these have already been mentioned, others might include tools like “three houses”, which can be utilised to make sense of a child’s world and their view of this with a view to supporting them to be able to move on.

The individual contact centre should be able to give you a time frame of when you can expect contact notes. Hopefully, the arrangements for sharing contact notes will have been made clear in the pre-visit meeting. The NACCC standards state the following:

“All records of contact should be completed and signed by the paid/unpaid staff responsible for supervising and recording the contact within two hours of it finishing wherever possible and within 48 hours at the latest. All contact records should be checked and co-signed by a senior worker/coordinator /centre manager before being sent to the appropriate parties.”

Click to find details of your local centre. You can tick which contact service you require and then enter your town or postcode to find the nearest centres to you.

If you are referring for supervised contact the staff will write a summary of what happened at the session. These are written into specific templates. As a professional a report can help you to do your work. Centres will often be happy to provide you with these so that you can use this information to help this family. Alternatively, it might also be possible for you to visit the centre and make your own observations. 

Staff will record anything they consider relevant and this will often extend beyond just the session itself.

If you are unsure whether notes are being taken its ok to ask about this and the centre will be able to tell you if they are taking notes and who they will be sharing these with.

If you are referring for supported contact, the centre will not take notes or share information about the progress of the family at the centre. However, they will usually be able to share information about dates and times that your family use the centre, but they will not make any notes about what happens within the session itself. Alternatively, it might also be possible for you to visit the centre and make your own observations. 

A supported contact centre will not record or report what happens in the contact centre. Parents can ask for a breakdown of their attendance at the centre and this will usually be provided. If more information than this is required, then supervised contact may be necessary.

If a centre has safeguarding concerns these will be shared in writing with relevant authorities in order to ensure the safety of children.