THE GOVERNMENT should set up 37 specialist centres to facilitate meetings between children and parents who face difficulties when couples’ relationships break down, a report published today has recommended.
One Family, which provides family support services to people parenting alone, said the child contact centres would provide a safe, neutral and welcoming environment for parents and children who do not live together to meet.
The centres would provide a handover service to ensure that parents do not have to meet when they drop off children for parental visits. They would also provide supported contact and supervised contact, whereby meetings take place at the centres with trained staff supervising in some situations.
The report says such centres are in Britain, Northern Ireland and Australia and are particularly vital in situations where there are high levels of conflict between parents or concerns for child safety.
“Contact centres can ensure a child’s safety whilst supporting a child and their non-resident parent to develop a positive and enduring relationship which can, in the vast majority of cases, move on to more normal contact arrangements within a reasonable time period,” said Candy Murphy, policy and research manager with One Family.
The reports estimates between 1,300 to 2,700 children would use the specialist contact centres and recommends that the Government undertake an information campaign to accompany any such programme.
Ms Murphy said without the specialist centres more children would lose touch with their parents, particularly their fathers.
The report was funded by the Family Support Agency. Some 25 parents and 32 professionals – legal experts and psychologists – were interviewed for the study.