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 family time moving forwards. This could be from supervised family time to supported family time. 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 family time session and then sign the person back in. This helps to build confidence before family time 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 family time 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 family time commences.