Venue details
Address (not for correspondence):
Caroline Walk,
Hammersmith, Greater London, W6 8PR
Opening hours
Days & Times: Monday to Friday, 10am to 6pm. Saturday, 10am to 4pm
Centre charges
No charge for service for internal referrals. Charges to external referrers - details available on request.
Services available here
Supported contact
Supervised contact
Handover
Enhanced Accredited
Virtual Contact (Supervised)
Notes from this centre
Referrals from Hammersmith & Fulham Social Workers only at the moment. Referrals accepted on Askham Contact Service referral form only. Not currently taking new referrals. Referral telephone number 0208 749 6936. Alternative email: Lorna.Jackson@lbhf.gov.uk
This centre is accredited to provide supervised contact
Accreditation is a way of checking that your contact centre is safe and meets our standards.
How is a centre checked?
An assessorSomeone working on our behalf who has experience and an interest in child contact services and must assess if a service meets our standards. looks round the centre’s rooms, toys, equipment, and any outside play areas to make sure that they are safe and good for you to use. They talk with the people at the centre to make sure that they are trained and helped to do their job as well as possible. They then check the informationThe assessor checks through the centre’s accreditation portfolio which includes policies, procedures, risk assessments, reports (if the service offers supervised contact) and information for families. on what happens at the centre and how it keeps you safe. If your family time happens in the community The service might use local community venues to deliver their service or in some cases, residential properties including family members’ homes, where this is safe and appropriate., then the assessor will check that this is going to be safe for you.
When the assessor is happy that a centre meets our standards then they are awarded their accreditation and you can find them on this website. Accreditation happens every three years with extra checks if needed.
Accreditation Summary
Date: 05/10/2021
Summary:
Askham Contact Centre is financed by Hammersmith and Fulham Borough Council and provides a supervised contact service for children and their families who are looked after by the Local Authority, Hammersmith and Fulham and subject to care orders. The service has been in operation since 1999 and accepts referrals from local borough councils, private or voluntary organisations. The centre made the necessary changes to the service regarding the pandemic in terms of the reopening of the centre, supervised contact and community contacts. Information about the centre can easy be located on LBHF website where referrers and clients can find out the necessary information about the different services the centre offers.
On entry to the building the rules and regulations of the centre are stated clearly, and although face coverings are not mandatory, they are required whilst walking around in the centre. There are hand sanitisers in the corridors and all rooms that will be used. The centre has an excellent cleaning programme in place and at the time of the visit families were allocated a named box of toys to reduce any infections. The centre has six designated child friendly contact rooms, some with kitchen facilities and a secure outdoor space for families to use. There is an excellent variety of equipment for all ages of children available during contact sessions along with families on some occasions bringing their own toys. All the contact rooms are in an excellent decorative order and maintained. The centre has a permanent full-time cleaner who regularly sanitises all areas of the centre as well as the cleaning and refills cleaning stocks and toilet paper to a very high standard. At the time of the report, foster carers/resident parents are allocated a ‘pod’ to wait in until a contact worker comes to collect the child/ren to take them into the contact area.
The centre has produced the appropriate leaflets for users with a map and photos of the actual centre and contact rooms/buildings. The centre encourages whenever possible for children to visit the centre before contact starts, as it is very important that they know what the centre looks like, where things are and hopefully get a sense of the centre’s facilities. This is usually conducted when the contact agreement planning meeting is arranged. Families and referrers are given the opportunity to complete evaluations during the review meeting or when contact is due to end. If necessary, the contact workers will escort looked after children home using a registered taxi firm which will be paid for by the local authority. This is very rare as foster carers will normally bring and collect the children either using their own vehicles or the local authority will pay for a taxi. The staff at the centre do not use their own vehicle for transporting children.
The contact service is overseen by the Head of Service Manager, but the Contact Manager has responsibility for the day to day management of the centre which is well resourced with contact workers, security and cleaners. The centre was very well prepared for the assessor’s visit with the portfolio and access to documents on the computer. The Contact Manager and their team are highly motivated, enthusiastic, committed, and always willing to learn. Their personal strengths include determination, attention to detail and a desire to make a real contribution to families who attend the centre. Clear communication is of the upmost importance and group supervisions are imperative to ensure the smooth running of the centre.
The centre provides an excellent quality service for their users and meets NACCC national standards required for supervised centres.
Photos from this centre
