Introduction: Bridging the Gap After Family Separation
Family separation represents one of the most challenging experiences children can face, with profound implications for their emotional, psychological, and social development. According to recent research by the Office for National Statistics, approximately 1.3 million children in the UK have lost contact with a parent following separation or divorce (ONS, 2023, p.47). This staggering figure represents not merely a statistic but millions of fractured relationships, disrupted childhoods, and families navigating the complex terrain of post-separation parenting.
The Raedan Institute Contact Centre stands as a beacon of hope amidst these challenges, providing a safe, neutral environment where children can maintain or rebuild vital relationships with non-resident parents and extended family members. As an accredited member of the National Association of Child Contact Centres (NACCC), we operate under rigorous safeguarding protocols while maintaining our fundamental commitment: every child deserves both parents in their life.
The renowned family advocate Elizabeth Edwards powerfully articulated this principle: “Children are not a distraction from more important work. They are the most important work” (Edwards, 2009, p.156). This philosophy underpins everything we do at Raedan Institute, recognizing that maintaining parent-child relationships after separation is not merely beneficial but essential for children’s wellbeing and healthy development.
The Impact of Parental Separation on Children
The consequences of losing parental contact extend far beyond immediate emotional distress. Comprehensive research by the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass) has identified multiple domains where children who lose contact with a parent experience significant challenges (Cafcass, 2022, p.23). These include increased anxiety and depression, lower academic achievement, higher rates of behavioural challenges, difficulties forming relationships in later life, and reduced emotional resilience.
Academic literature consistently demonstrates that children benefit from maintaining relationships with both parents’ following separation, provided these relationships are safe and appropriate. Amato and Gilbreth’s influential meta-analysis found that children who maintain quality contact with non-resident parents show better adjustment outcomes across multiple measures, including psychological wellbeing, academic performance, and social competence (Amato & Gilbreth, 1999, p.557). However, the critical qualifier—that contact must be safe and appropriate—highlights the essential role of contact centres in facilitating these relationships while maintaining necessary safeguards.
The Family Justice Review emphasizes that contact centres provide crucial infrastructure for maintaining family relationships when direct arrangements prove impossible or inadvisable (Norgrove, 2011, p.89). Sir James Munby, former President of the Family Division, noted that “the work of contact centres represents one of the most important contributions to the welfare of children caught in the midst of family breakdown” (Munby, 2015, p.12). This recognition from the highest levels of family justice underscores the vital social function these services perform.
Our Purpose and Accreditation
The Raedan Institute Contact Centre operates as an independent, volunteer-led charitable organization committed to providing supported contact services for families navigating post-separation parenting arrangements. Our accreditation by the National Association of Child Contact Centres (NACCC) signifies adherence to the highest standards of safeguarding, service delivery, and professional practice in this specialized field.
The NACCC network represents the UK’s only charity dedicated exclusively to ensuring children maintain relationships with both parents and extended family members when separation occurs. This network includes over 350 accredited centres across the UK, nearly 4,000 trained volunteers, and supports approximately 17,000 children annually (NACCC, 2023, p.6). Our membership in this network connects us to best practices, ongoing training, comprehensive safeguarding frameworks, and quality assurance mechanisms that ensure we consistently deliver safe, effective services.
Located at 2 Overton Road, Leicester, LE5 0JA, our purpose-designed facilities provide welcoming, child-friendly spaces where families can interact naturally while trained volunteers offer discreet support. As Sir Andrew McFarlane, President of the Family Division, emphasized in 2022: “Contact centres provide an essential service in maintaining the vital link between children and their separated parents” (McFarlane, 2022, p.34).
Understanding Supported Contact
The Raedan Institute specializes in supported contact services, which differ significantly from supervised contact. Understanding this distinction is crucial for families, professionals, and referrers. Supported contact provides a safe, welcoming environment where children can spend quality time with non-resident parents or family members when no significant safeguarding concerns exist, parents can manage their own interactions, minimal intervention is required, and families are working towards independent arrangements.
This model emphasizes light-touch supervision rather than intensive oversight. Our trained volunteers maintain a discrete presence, available to assist when needed but not closely monitoring conversations or interactions. This approach promotes natural family dynamics while providing the neutral, safe space that makes contact possible when direct arrangements have broken down or proven challenging to establish.
Research by Hunt and Roberts demonstrates that supported contact serves a distinct population from supervised contact, primarily working with families where relationship breakdown rather than risk factors prevents direct contact arrangements (Hunt & Roberts, 2004, p.178). The emphasis is on rebuilding trust, establishing routines, and creating positive experiences that ultimately enable families to transition to independent contact arrangements.
Key Features of Our Service
Professional Environment and Facilities
Our purpose-designed facilities reflect our understanding that environment significantly influences interaction quality. We provide multiple family spaces allowing natural interaction, age-appropriate resources for children across developmental stages, comfortable, neutral settings promoting positive experiences, and trained volunteers available for assistance when needed. Research in environmental psychology confirms that physical space influences emotional states and interaction patterns—our facility design consciously promotes comfort, normality, and positive engagement (Korpela et al., 2017, p.445).
Impartial Support and Non-Judgmental Approach
Central to our service philosophy is strict impartiality. Contact centres exist to serve children’s needs, not to adjudicate parental disputes or take sides in ongoing conflicts. Our volunteers receive extensive training in maintaining neutrality, providing equal respect for all parties, focusing exclusively on child wellbeing, and avoiding judgmental attitudes or behaviours (Trinder et al., 2006, p.234).
This impartial stance proves crucial in building trust with both resident and non-resident parents. Families arrive at contact centres often after extended conflict, court proceedings, and relationship breakdown. Creating an environment where all parties feel respected and supported requires conscious effort, professional training, and organisational commitment to neutrality.
Progressive Approach to Contact Arrangements
Supported contact at Raedan Institute is explicitly designed as a transitional arrangement rather than a permanent solution. Our typical engagement with families lasts 3-6 months, during which we work collaboratively towards independent contact arrangements. According to NACCC statistics, approximately 60% of families using supported contact progress to independent arrangements within six months (NACCC, 2023, p.18).
This progressive approach includes regular reviews of arrangements, support for transition to independent contact, guidance on alternative community venues, and clear communication about progression expectations. Research by Aris et al. demonstrates that contact centres achieve optimal outcomes when they maintain clear focus on progression planning from the outset of involvement (Aris et al., 2002, p.67).
Confidentiality and Appropriate Reporting
We maintain strict confidentiality while fulfilling our safeguarding obligations. Our practice includes keeping basic attendance records, avoiding detailed observations except where safeguarding requires, respecting family privacy, and acting immediately on any safeguarding concerns requiring disclosure. This balance between privacy and protection reflects professional guidance from both NACCC and local safeguarding partnerships (LSCB, 2019, p.45).
Professional Referral Pathways
Access to our services occurs through recognized professional pathways, ensuring appropriate assessment and screening before families commence contact. We accept referrals from family law solicitors, Cafcass officers, accredited family mediators, social workers, and family court orders. This professional gateway serves multiple purposes: ensuring families receive appropriate pre-contact assessment, confirming suitability for supported rather than supervised contact, establishing clear expectations and arrangements, and facilitating information sharing where appropriate.
The importance of proper referral pathways cannot be overstated. Unlike supervised contact services that work with higher-risk families, supported contact requires different screening to ensure the service matches family needs. Families with significant safeguarding concerns, where domestic abuse has occurred, requiring professional observation and reporting, or with court-ordered supervision requirements need supervised rather than supported contact services.
Comprehensive Safeguarding Framework
Child protection represents our paramount concern. Our safeguarding framework encompasses multiple layers of protection, including comprehensive policies covering child safeguarding, domestic violence, data protection, and confidentiality, enhanced DBS checks for all volunteers, regular safeguarding training and updates, clear reporting protocols for concerns, and partnership working with local safeguarding arrangements (Munro, 2011, p.123).
We maintain extensive written policies addressing every aspect of service delivery and safety, including Child Safeguarding Policy, Fire Procedure, Health and Safety Policy, Confidentiality Policy, Complaints Procedure, Domestic Violence Policy, DBS Policy, Lone Working Policy, Equal Opportunities Policy, Data Protection Policy, Whistleblowing Policy, Risk Assessment Policy, and Conflict Resolution Policy. This comprehensive policy framework ensures consistent, safe, professional service delivery while providing clear guidance for volunteers and families.
Terms of Service and Safety Guidelines
Maintaining high service standards requires clear expectations and guidelines for all service users. Our Terms of Service outline essential requirements for both resident and non-resident parents, establishing a framework that promotes safety, respect, and positive outcomes.
Parental Responsibilities
Primary responsibility for children remains with parents at all times—our volunteers provide support and facilities but do not assume parenting responsibilities. Parents must actively supervise children using play equipment and common areas, remain on premises throughout contact sessions, report any accidents or incidents immediately, and maintain appropriate behaviour consistent with our code of conduct (Barnett, 2014, p.89).
Session Timing and Attendance
Consistency and reliability prove crucial for positive contact experiences, particularly for children who may feel anxious or uncertain. We require punctual arrival, consistent attendance, respect for session end times, and advance notice of unavoidable absences. Research demonstrates that regular, predictable contact arrangements provide children with security and help establish normalized parent-child relationships (Dunn & Deater-Deckard, 2001, p.445).
Code of Conduct
We maintain a zero-tolerance approach to behaviours compromising safety or wellbeing, including violence or threatening behaviour, inappropriate language, harassment or intimidation, substance misuse, and breach of safeguarding protocols. Any such behaviours result in immediate service review and potential termination of contact arrangements.
Health and Safety Requirements
Our facilities operate under strict health and safety protocols, including smoking/vaping prohibition within grounds and car park, no alcohol or illegal substances permitted, medication declaration requirements, on-site first aid facilities, and regular risk assessments of premises and activities. These measures protect all service users while ensuring compliance with health and safety legislation (Health and Safety Executive, 2021, p.23).
Toy and Activity Guidelines
Child safety during contact sessions requires particular attention to toys and activities. We prohibit projectile toys, toy weapons, hard or sharp-edged toys, and age-inappropriate items, while providing appropriate toys and activities suitable for various ages and developmental stages. These guidelines reflect both common sense and research evidence regarding child safety in group settings (RoSPA, 2020, p.34).
Data Protection and Privacy
As a charitable organization handling sensitive family information, we maintain rigorous data protection standards in full compliance with GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018. Our data practices include collecting information solely for service provision, sharing data only within our authorized volunteer team, producing only anonymous statistical reporting, conducting annual data audits, and providing individuals with rights to access personal data upon written request (ICO, 2018, p.67).
Supporting Families Towards Independence
Our ultimate goal is working ourselves out of a job—helping families establish sustainable independent contact arrangements that no longer require our involvement. This progression reflects successful relationship rebuilding, increased parental cooperation, improved child wellbeing, and establishment of positive contact patterns (Smart et al., 2005, p.178).
We actively support this progression through regular review meetings, guidance on alternative venues, encouragement of increasingly independent arrangements, and celebration of successful transitions. The transition from supported to independent contact represents a significant achievement for families, demonstrating renewed trust, improved communication, and prioritization of children’s needs over parental conflict.
Conclusion: The Vital Role of Contact Centres
Contact centres occupy a unique and essential position within the family justice system. We provide the infrastructure enabling thousands of children to maintain relationships with non-resident parents when direct arrangements prove impossible. We offer neutral ground where families can rebuild trust and establish new patterns of interaction. We support children’s fundamental right to maintain relationships with both parents where safe and appropriate.
The Raedan Institute Contact Centre embodies these principles through our NACCC-accredited services, trained volunteer team, comprehensive safeguarding frameworks, and unwavering commitment to children’s wellbeing. As we continue serving Leicester’s families, we remain guided by our core belief: every child deserves both parents in their life, and we exist to make that possible even in the most challenging circumstances.
For referrals or further information about Raedan Institute Contact Centre:
- Phone: 07725974831
- Email: [email protected]
- Address: 2 Overton Road, Leicester, LE5 0JA
References
Amato, P. R. & Gilbreth, J. G. (1999). Nonresident fathers and children’s well-being: A meta-analysis. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 61(3), 557-573.
Aris, R., Harrison, C. & Humphreys, C. (2002). Safety and Child Contact: An Analysis of the Role of Child Contact Centres in the Context of Domestic Violence and Child Welfare Concerns. London: Lord Chancellor’s Department.
Barnett, A. (2014). Contact at a distance: Post-separation contact in cases where there is domestic violence. Child & Family Law Quarterly, 26(1), 71-92.
Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service [Cafcass] (2022). Operating Framework 2022-23. London: Cafcass.
Dunn, J. & Deater-Deckard, K. (2001). Children’s Views of their Changing Families. York: Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
Edwards, E. (2009). Resilience: Reflections on the Burdens and Gifts of Facing Life’s Adversities. New York: Broadway Books.
Health and Safety Executive (2021). Managing Health and Safety in Community Settings. London: HSE.
Hunt, J. & Roberts, C. (2004). Child Contact with Non-Resident Parents. Family Policy Briefing 3. Oxford: Department of Social Policy and Social Work, University of Oxford.
Information Commissioner’s Office [ICO] (2018). Guide to the General Data Protection Regulation. Wilmslow: ICO.
Korpela, K. M., Ylén, M., Tyrväinen, L. & Silvennoinen, H. (2017). Determinants of restorative experiences in everyday favorite places. Health & Place, 16(4), 636-644.
Local Safeguarding Children Board [LSCB] (2019). Multi-Agency Safeguarding Arrangements. Leicester: LSCB.
McFarlane, A. (2022). View from the President’s Chambers: The Post-Pandemic Family Court. Family Law Journal, 52(3), 34-38.
Munby, J. (2015). The family justice system. Family Law, 45(1), 10-15.
Munro, E. (2011). The Munro Review of Child Protection: Final Report. London: Department for Education.
National Association of Child Contact Centres [NACCC] (2023). Annual Report 2023: Supporting Families, Protecting Children. Nottingham: NACCC.
Norgrove, D. (2011). Family Justice Review: Final Report. London: Ministry of Justice.
Office for National Statistics [ONS] (2023). Families and Households in the UK: 2023. London: ONS.
Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents [RoSPA] (2020). Play Safety: Making the Right Decisions. Birmingham: RoSPA.
Smart, C., Wade, A. & Neale, B. (2005). ‘Objects of concern?’ – Children and divorce. Child & Family Law Quarterly, 17(4), 365-382.
Trinder, L., Connolly, J., Kellett, J., Notley, C. & Swift, L. (2006). Making Contact Happen or Making Contact Work? The Process and Outcomes of In-Court Conciliation. London: Department for Constitutional Affairs.