Venue details
Address (not for correspondence):
YMCA, Harding Road, Hanley,
Stoke on Trent, Staffordshire, ST1 3AE
Opening hours
Days & Times: Monday - Saturday 9am - 6pm
Centre charges
Details available on request
Services available here
Supervised contact assessment
Enhanced Accredited
Contact
Website: www.ymcans.org.uk
Telephone: 01782 222389
Email: For information please contact mike.carter@ymcans.org.uk
Notes from this centre
YMCA North Staffordshire is a provider of Improving Child and Family Arrangements (ICFA) on behalf of the Family Courts. No new referrals for private contact services are currently being accepted.
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: 14/02/2022
Summary:
YMCA Family Work is part of YMCA North Staffordshire (YMCANS) which is a large organisation with a complex that includes accommodation for young people and a range of activities and services. Although it is a Christian organisation it seeks to provide opportunities and services to everyone with a strong commitment to equality and diversity. The contact services have been provided since 2003 and at the time of the report these include supervised, supported, indirect and virtual. There is also a contract for the Cafcass Improving Child and Family Arrangements (ICFA) programme. The contact service is easily accessible by train and bus and there is on-site car parking.
The Family Work project has a self-contained office and two rooms for supervised contact in the Activity Centre. The larger contact room and a small kitchen (not generally used by families) are on the first floor. Supported contact currently takes place in the Dance studio which was being used for badminton during the assessor visit and so was not set up for contact. This venue may change and move to a children’s centre. An outdoor play area was used prior to Covid but wasn’t in use due to the current restrictions. Generally, the contact facilities are well-maintained and safe with child-friendly resources, although for supported contact parents are asked to bring their own toys during Covid restrictions. Toilets are clean and well-maintained.
YMCA Family Work provides information for referrers and parents on its website with welcome packs and details of the various services. Children are included in all the various processes and there is a good preparation presentation called ‘Getting to know Bethany’ which helps to elicit children’s wishes and feelings. They are offered pre-visits, but other work may sometimes have taken place that removes the need for these. Staggered arrivals and departures are put in place as there are not separate entrances available. YMCANS has a policy that covers staff driving their own cars and for transporting children (although this rarely happens) and safety measures are in place for home visits and lone working.
The centre’s staffing had undergone a difficult transition period at the time of the report due to financial problems arising from Covid but generally families have had the same worker throughout their work programme. At the time of the report there was a need to recruit volunteers for the supported centre urgently and family numbers remained limited in the meantime. YMCA Family Work is well-run with good facilities when not restricted by Covid arrangements and meets the requirement for enhanced (supervised) re-accreditation.
Photos from this centre
