Contact Supervision
The Children Act 1989 imposes a duty upon Local Authorities to promote ‘reasonable contact’ between a looked after child and his/her parents and specified others providing this is consistent with the child’s welfare and it is reasonably practical to do so.
For the majority of looked after children, the aim of professional intervention from the outset will be to reunite them with their family provided that it is in their best interests to do so.
Contact plays a vital role in the care planning process:-
- It can assist in sustaining and/or developing positive relationships between a child and members of their non-resident family.
- It can alleviate some of the distress felt by a child following separation from his/her family.
- It can assist the child in developing a proper understanding of their identity and origins and can contribute to life story work.
Contact will often be ‘supported’ or ‘supervised’ by a professional.
Supported contact is not the same as supervised contact. Supported contact does not involve close monitoring of the interactions between parent and child and is usually used for separated families when there is some acrimony between the parents but there is no specific risk to the child. Supported contact may involve oversight of lots of different families having contact or just provide help with a handover so that parents do not need to come into contact with one another.
Supervised contact is used when it has been assessed that a child has suffered or is at risk of suffering harm during contact. Supervised contact ensures the physical safety and emotional wellbeing of a child.
Supervised contact also:
- Allows for observation and assessment of the quality of the relationship between a child and non-resident family member and the ability of any prospective carer’s capacity to meet the child’s needs.
- Facilitates reintroduction of estranged family members to children within a safe and supported environment.
- Allows for feedback and guidance to parents in meeting the child’s needs.
cases involving inadequate parenting or parents with manageable substance/alcohol
misuse or mental health problems. A higher level of vigilance would be required where there is high risk of abduction.
Our team of experienced Parenting Practitioners:-
- Can provide a flexible, reliable and professional service which is tailored to individual case requirements with the level of supervision being commensurate with risks identified.
- Are qualified, skilled and confident to intervene if necessary and can work professionally and appropriately with vulnerable children and potentially highly distressed adults.
- Are skilled and trained to provide parenting skills guidance if required.
- Understand the need to escalate safeguarding issues to the relevant individual
- Provide detailed and evidence-based recordings of the contact sessions exploring (amongst other aspects): greetings, activities undertaken, nature of
interactions, behaviours, attitudes and they may also make suggestions to improve the quality of contact. Such written observations are often used to inform social work planning and can be used as evidence in court.
We recognise that contact can be a difficult and emotionally charged event for both children and their families. We endeavour to make the process as comfortable for all involved as possible. We do this by:-
- Facilitating contact at times convenient for all parties (including anti-social hours and weekends).
- Offering pre-contact visits to the child or family to develop familiarity.
- Offering the same contact supervisor for consistency.
- Offering a planning meeting at which particulars of the sessions and expectations will be discussed.
