Venue details
Address (not for correspondence):
The Hub Church, Portland Road,
Bishop's Stortford, Herts, CM23 3SL
Opening hours
Days & Times: Saturdays 10am to 12 noon
Centre charges
£25 per parent to cover up to 10 visits. Exemptions for hardship.
Services available here
Supported contact
Handover
Accepts self referrals
This centre is using our Safe Referral System, to find out more click here
Accredited
Safe Referral System (SRS)
To make a referral,
contact:
Telephone: 07766 627765
Email: admin@bsccc.co.uk
We are using the NACCC Safe Referral System.
Visit the NACCC SRS website to register >
Description
We offer supported contact in a safe, friendly and neutral place where children of separated families can spend time with one or both parents and sometimes other family members. It is a child-centred environment that puts the needs of children first. We open on Saturday mornings between 10am and 12noon.
Local services
We are located in the centre of town. There are plenty of car parks nearby and we are a ten-minute walk from the railway station. There is no available parking at the centre itself. For handover families, there is parkland and a playground a ten-minute walk away from the Centre.
This centre is accredited to provide supported 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 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.
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: 02/08/2021
Summary:
Portland Child Contact Centre uses The Hub Church on Saturday mornings and has sole use of the building during the session. The Hub is situated right in the town centre with ample parking and public transport available nearby. There is a main church hall which is decorated in a modern and informal manner. There are smaller rooms to the rear of the hall which can be used as waiting rooms for parents. The main hall can accommodate up to five families at a time for contact.
The building has a front entrance and a rear entrance, enabling resident and non-resident parents to enter separately and avoid potential conflict. There is a third entrance from the front directly into the hall which provides disabled access. A reception desk is set up inside the main front door.
There are separate male, female and disabled access toilets situated around the building, and these were seen to be modern and clean. There is a coffee bar in the main hall and a separate small kitchen at the rear of the building. [At the time of the reaccreditation visit, due to the pandemic, no food or drinks were prepared on the premises during contact sessions, and therefore these facilities were not being used by the contact service]. There are ample cafes within short walking distance that parents can access or bring their own pre-prepared food.
The Centre provides a welcoming and neutral venue for children whose parents have separated to spend quality time with their non-resident parent in a child-centred environment. They provide safe handovers and supported contact, where visiting parents can spend time with their children on a regular basis until other arrangements are agreed. The Centre is not able to facilitate supervised contact.
The Portland Child Contact Centre is a friendly and caring service that takes its role in supporting families seriously. It has been established for 21 years and makes good use of its NACCC membership to inform practice. The temporary shutdown due to Covid-19 provided an opportunity to take stock of things and implement changes that will enhance the service provided for families in the future.
Photos from this centre
