Contact centre
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In the context of child welfare, a contact centre is a supervised venue that exists to support and promote contact between parents, grandparents, guardians and children that do not live together. Such centres are particularly important in cases where acrimony or a history of domestic violence exists between parents, making it difficult for parents to organise parenting time without outside assistance.
The first contact centres in Scotland opened in 1988. As of 2002, there were 28 such centres in the country. The centres are local projects, run by charities such as Family Mediation and the Women's Royal Voluntary Service, and are not statutory institutions. However it is common for solicitors to direct their clients to contact centres as well as for courts to order parents to allow the other parent contact with their children at such centres.
See also
References
- Building Bridges? Expectations and Experiences of Child Contact Centres in Scotland (http://www.scotland.gov.uk/library5/social/bbeecc.pdf) Research report commissioned by the Scottish Executive into the effectiveness of such centres in Scotland.