Venue details
Address (not for correspondence):
15-17 Marten Road,
Folkestone, Kent, CT20 2JR
Opening hours
Days & Times: Monday - Saturday, 10am till 6pm.
Centre charges
Details available on request
Services available here
Supported contact
Supervised contact
Handover
Accepts self referrals
Enhanced Accredited
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: 25/10/2022
Summary:
Saint Mary’s CC is an established service already providing contact services in London to both privately referring families and local authorities for children in care proceedings.
The Centre is close-by to Folkestone West and Central train stations (approximately a 7-minute walk) and has close bus links. The building is in a residential area and is clean, well-lit and kept at a comfortable temperature. A small number of appropriate toys and activities were observed during the assessment visit; with parents encouraged to provide their own too. The service has access to one contact room and a garden. The toilets and kitchen were observed to be clean and well maintained. The building is accessible both through the use of ramps and ground floor access points.
The Centre offers up to three entrances/exits which are accessible on the ground floor, supporting parents who cannot or do not wish to meet at this stage in their co-parenting journey. The Centre is based in a residential area, offering a quiet and homely atmosphere with good transport links with the venue between two train stations, both of which are approximately a 5 to 10 – minute walk.
Two staff are allocated to each family allowing for both a familiar face for families to building positive working relationships; as well as an on-site coordinator for all sessions occurring.
The Centre operates staggered arrival as well as the use of separate entrances to the building to prevent parents from meeting.
The organisation itself has been running contact services since the early 90’s, so whilst the venue is new, the service is experienced and well-versed in the issues families are facing when working with families through court proceedings as well as care proceedings. As a result, the Folkestone team will have access to advice and support based on years of experience in supporting and managing contact.
Saint Marys Contact Centre meets the requirements for enhanced (supervised) accreditation and is a welcome addition to plug the gap in Contact Services in the South East of Kent.
Photos from this centre
