3.6.4 Contact Services |
SCOPE OF THIS CHAPTER
This document provides a definition of the range of provision that comprises contact services for children and their families and friends. It explains the service principles that underpin the requirements for contact, the organisation and planning of meetings including an assessment of the potential risks involved.
The issues and responsibilities for contact supervisors is also addressed.
Contents
- Introduction
- Principles Underpinning Contact
- Service Principles
- Contact Planning Meeting
- Contact Attendance Principles and Requirements
- Risk Assessments
- Substance Misuse
- Domestic Abuse
- Sexual Abuse
- Factors to be Taken into Account
- Flexibility of Contact Arrangements
- Volunteers
- Transport Arrangements
Appendix A
1. Introduction
Contact services are provided by the Directorate in keeping with its duties and responsibilities under the Children act 1989 and a number of other legislative requirements which relate to the provision of services for children and families.
Children's Services Directorate is committed to providing contact services within its responsibilities which afford children the best possible care and safety, in keeping with their assessed needs, at venues which are child centred.
While the needs of the child have first consideration, parents and carers needs are recognised and services implemented to strengthen families will include advice, guidance, support and assessment where appropriate.
2. Principles Underpinning Contact
Contact often arises as a result of separation and loss and is often linked to conflict and requires skilled and sensitive intervention.
Underpinning all contact services is the belief that:- Every effort should be made to place a child with their family or origin/rehabilitate home;
- When long term separation is inevitable, good memories and a sense of identity are taken from contact;
- Contact, whether direct or indirect is essential for a child's well being;
- Contact arises as a result of separation and loss, is often linked to conflict and requires skilled and sensitive intervention.
Contact is a term which describes a wide range of activity and intervention:
- Assessed and supervised contact during legal proceedings to include formal assessments, i.e. parenting;
- Contact prior to adoption following legal proceedings;
- Direct and indirect contact between separated family members when there is a risk of harm to a child/ren or carer;
- Temporary separation due to family breakdown where there are child protection concerns;
- Following final hearing, when child/ren are placed in long term care and courts are aware of ongoing contact;
- Sibling contact.
The level of service provided by the Children's Services Directorate will be in accordance with meeting the needs and desirable outcomes for the child as appropriate to statutory duties.
The practice outlined in this document will assist the Directorate in achieving a high standard of practice but this cannot be in isolation. An effective partnership with families, the legal profession, other health social care agencies, voluntary organisations and community groups is essential.
3. Service Principles
In delivering contact services, the following principles will be adhered to :
- The child's needs are paramount;
- Services will respect the service users' ethnicity, culture, religion, disabilities, gender, sexuality and individuality, and to ensure that services are anti-discriminatory in respect of the income and social status;
- Confidentiality will be maintained within the Directorate's policy. All parties involved should be made aware, that in legal proceedings, recording of the contact sessions will be available to the Courts and therefore all interested parties;
- Emergency contact arrangements can be made for a maximum of 2 weeks. Within this time a Contact Planning Meeting will be held;
- The level of recording will be agreed within the Planning Meeting and reviewed. All recording will be in line with Lincolnshire County Council's Children's Services Directorate's recording with care guidance. These may be required by Courts in proceedings in consultation with Legal Services;
- A risk assessment (including that required under the Health & Safety Policy) will be completed to ensure safety of child/ren, service users and staff. The Health & Safety Policy risk assessment will be undertaken by the contact service;
- Within an agreed plan, service users will be involved in decision making about the service they receive, enabling them to make choices, particularly relating to activities. These will be reviewed within an eight week period;
- Whenever possible the contact venue and transport arrangements will be made in the best interest of the child;
- Children's Services will endeavour to work in partnership with all parties in respect of contact;
- All involved will receive constructive feedback from observations of contacts;
- Whilst the importance of contact is recognised, there may be occasions when contact is suspended in the best interests of the child following child protection concerns. If contact is suspended a risk assessment will be undertaken (including any necessary to meet the requirements of the Health & Safety Policy) and a meeting with all interested parties arranged as a matter of urgency;
- Contact supervisors will be appropriately trained, supported and supervised for the task;
- Research findings will be actively used in development of the contact service.
4. Contact Planning Meeting
A Contact Planning Meeting should be convened within 2 weeks of the requirement being identified. All interested parties should be present to include legal representation where appropriate and possible.
The purpose of the meeting will be to formulate a contact agreement by exchange of information and agree:
- The venue and timing of the individual contact sessions over the expected period in which the contact service will be required;
- Attendance at contact;
- Findings from assessment of risk (Health & Safety and risk to the child);
- The level of supervision and role of the supervisor;
- Specific assessment / observations requirements;
- Support and intervention to be provided during contact;
- Transport requirements and arrangements;
- "Carers" needs and wishes in regard to activities during contact time;
- Specific expectations of conduct as it is useful to have "ground rules" so that all are aware of the boundaries to contact and possible repercussions ;
- Any significant dates to avoid or include in contact for example Birthdays, Faith days etc.;
- Feedback arrangements;
- Reviews should be held at eight weekly intervals where all parties can negotiate changes to the original plan. An earlier review meeting should be convened if any difficulties arise from the plan agreement. Dates of the reviews and venue will be set at the first planning meeting;
- When children are in permanent placement a review date should be agreed as appropriate to the arrangements;
- Service users will be informed of the Customer feedback and Complaints procedure;
- The requirements for specific needs as identified in the core assessment will be incorporated into the contact service. For example the service will need to consider requirements to meet communication needs, disability or faith needs.
A written programme of all contact times up to the next review shall be distributed to all parties so all are aware of the contact arrangements before the commencement of contact. However any delay in distribution will not delay the start of contact.
5. Contact Attendance Principles and Requirements
Every effort should be made to facilitate parental attendance at contact. Their views and considerations must be taken into account at the Planning Meeting to avoid non-attendance. It should be made clear to them and be available in writing when contact is to take place and arrangements should be the same every week if required.
It is not in the best interest of the child/ren to travel to contact and wait for their parents/carers attendance if this is not part of the contact agreement. Arrangements for this eventuality should be agreed at the Planning Meeting.
If parents have not attended "3" contact sessions without reasonable explanation then contact will be terminated until further discussions take place and will be brought to the Court's attention.
If parents attendance becomes spasmodic they must contact the contact service to confirm if they will be attending contact. This should either be earlier in the day or the day before if an early contact. Following confirmation the Contact Service will arrange for the child/ren to be brought for contact. If no telephone message is received then the child/ren will remain with their "carers".
If parents have not arrived within 15 minutes of the start time of contact and have not alerted the Contact Service of their lateness, contact will be terminated for that day and the child/ren returned to their carer.
If parents have alerted the Contact Service of their lateness and their intention to attend then the child/ren will remain for their contact.
6. Risk Assessments
The contact Service shall undertake a Health & Safety risk assessment prior to the Contact Planning Meeting. The findings and plan shall be reviewed at each review of the contact agreement and contact sessions.
There should be a clear analysis by the Contact Service of the risks inherent in contact for all involved. These should include:
- Risk of physical and / or emotional harm to the child;
- Risk of abduction;
- Safety issues;
- Specific risks to include Domestic Abuse, Substance Misuse and Sexual Abuse;
- Risk to other service users, staff and supervisors.
The severity and likelihood of each risk can be differentiated:
- Risks that are so grave that contact should not be allowed;
- Risks that indicate a high level of supervision and control;
- If high level of risk, contact should be held in a Children's Service Resource/Contact Service resource;
- Slight risks that do not significantly affect the plan but which workers should be aware of.
The local authority has a responsibility to protect, as far as is reasonable, all people using their services, particularly on their premises.
Risk Assessments to be reviewed if there is a change in Care Plan or significant event to ensure level of supervision in place.
Contact Risk Assessments should be scrutinised by the Independent Reviewing Officer as part of the Statutory Review.
7. Substance Misuse
Substance misuse, in itself, does not automatically assume that users cannot parent children safely. Many substance misuse parents provide "good enough" parenting and their children are not adversely affected by their addiction. However substance misuse can greatly impact on a parent's ability to put their children's needs first and to meet their children's most basic needs.
Assessment under the Health & Safety Policy should be made of the risk to the child/ren, employees and other service users when an adult appears to be adversely affected by substance misuse and if necessary contact should be terminated and the "user" asked to leave the premises. All professionals involved with the family should be advised of this and the matter brought before the Court if the case is within the court process.
The contact service premises should make all service users aware that illegal substances or other means of misusing substances are not allowed on the premises and that, if this occurs, they will be asked to leave.
8. Domestic Abuse
The Directorate's involvement in cases of Domestic Abuse and issues of contact are within the remit of -
- Child Protection - when children have suffered, or are likely to suffer, significant harm due to parental relationships;
- When parents remain together or are likely to re-unite and children have been removed for their own safety, pending assessment and intervention;
- When the non-abusing parent cannot safely protect from the absent parent.
In cases of Domestic Abuse there is a presumption of no contact rather than the presumption of contact and core assessment should be made as to the well being of the child/ren in having contact with a perpetrator of Domestic Violence.
If, following assessment, it is agreed that contact should be resumed every effort should be made to protect the child/ren and the non-abusing carer.
Contact with the non-abusing parent if they and the child are separated. should be held in a safe, secure environment which could be supported rather than supervised.
9. Sexual Abuse
Although it is highly unlikely that in a supervised contact setting further actual abuse would take place we cannot ascertain the emotional impact of contact on the child/ren and alleged perpetrator therefore when there has been disclosure of sexual abuse, contact between the child/ren and the alleged perpetrator should not take place until an assessment of risk and the child/ren's wishes are known. Only after thorough assessment and discussion with all parties concerned should contact be a consideration.
This should also apply when a known Sex Offender or other risky adult requests contact with a child/ren.
10. Factors to be Taken into Account
The importance of retaining some flexibility in contact, so that arrangements can be altered over time, in response to changing needs.
Recognition that quality is more important than quantity. A busy short visit might be more successful than a rather empty longer visit. Conversely, in a permanent placement, a three hour visit every three months might be far more successful than a one hour visit every month, but the total contact time in a year would be the same for both.
Identification of the risks. Not only does the level of risk have to be assessed, but also whether there are structures and resources to deal with that risk adequately. The risks have to be examined in relation to the purposes of contact, and the needs of the child. Occasionally, greater risks are justified if they are part of the process of meeting a priority need or strong wishes for contact.
Recognition of the compromises that will have to be made to achieve a workable plan. If the compromises arise because of lack of resources, this should be carefully noted, and senior management should be notified.
11. Flexibility of Contact Arrangements
Contact arrangements are made to enable family members maintain a relationship following separation. The majority of families having supervised contact are also experiencing court proceedings with the children placed on Interim Care Orders. The court directs the amount of contact which Children's Services has to provide and this is reviewed monthly at Interim hearings.
In order to facilitate quality contact it would be helpful to have flexible arrangements of contact time which can be specifically tailored to individual need, examples of this being:
- Under 12 months - Young babies sleep a great deal of the time and a parent may not feel they are contributing to their babies needs if they are asleep all the contact time. Flexibility of arrangements rather than rigid days and times could ensure that babies physical needs can be met, therefore giving quality contact time. This would also give valuable information and support regarding parenting skills and inform court decisions;
- Contact 3 to 4 times per week after school is not always in a child's best interest. They may have out of school activities or may have to travel distances home but extra time in school holidays can be of real benefit to all;
- The benefits to flexible contact arrangements extend across all ages of children and also to parents. They enable parents to meet their child/rens needs and can promote "fun" activities;
- Contact times should be extended, at the discretion of Children's Services, to achieve thorough assessment of parenting skills and where rehabilitation home is being considered.
The skill and experience of supervisors is crucial to successful outcomes in contact and the 'matching' of the worker to the family is a key task. While the roles and tasks required of the supervisor will vary according to the complexity of the care plan, and may require specific specialist knowledge, the following competencies are essential for all supervisors:
- Observational skills;
- Recording skills;
- Anti-oppressive practice and empowerment strategies;
- Assertiveness;
- A wide range of inter personal communication skills with adults and children;
- Flexibility and Creativity;
- Confidence and Resilience;
- Ability to handle stress effectively;
- Ability to handle conflict and to offer alternative strategies for managing anger;
- A positive partnership approach which builds on family strengths.
In addition the following underpinning knowledge is required:
- Safeguarding Children and LSCB procedures and awareness;
- Relevant child care legislation;
- Children's Services policies and procedures;
- Child development;
- Attachment and loss;
- Parenting Capacity skills;
- Play skills;
- Behaviour management strategies.
These competencies and the underpinning knowledge will be assessed and addressed as part of an induction, training and development package for each supervisor. Formal training courses will be provided as part of the Workforce Learning and Development Programme.
To enable workers to supervise, assess or intervene in more complex cases, they should also be trained in:
- Giving evidence at court;
- Methods of Assessment including the Assessment of Children in Need and their Families;
- Methods of Positive Intervention with Children and Families;
- Identity and Self Esteem;
- Child Protection and risk assessment including 'The grooming process';
- Handling Face to Face Violence.
12. Volunteers
When children are transported to contact visits it is in their best interest to have the same personnel whenever possible. Voluntary drivers can provide stability and security for the child/ren and an appropriate relationship can be formed between them, the children and their carers.
Volunteers can play a valuable role in the life of a contact but should be used appropriately.
All volunteers should be subject to the Local Authority's Recruitment and Selection Policy and should be given training in the relevant Polices and Procedures pertinent to contact. On going appropriate training and support, to include supervision, should be offered to them on a regular basis and a named person take responsibility for this.
13. Transport Arrangements
Under the Children Act the local authority has responsibilities in facilitating contact. This includes transporting children to and from contact venues. In providing transport the first priority must be the safety and well being of the child/ren, however, cost effectiveness and Best Value has to be a consideration.
When the child/ren are in the (interim) care of the Local Authority, the adult with the day to day care of the child/ren must be the first consideration. This may be a natural relative of the child or their foster carer, a person who the child will feel comfortable with.
If the preferred option is not possible due to the unavailability of car/driver or conflict then consideration should be a staff member particularly if the child/ren are placed within a short distance of the venue or the staff member is travelling to supervise the contact.
The "driver" must ensure that appropriate seats are used for the child/ren but ultimately this is the responsibility of the Directorate. The staff member should ask about these at the time of booking the transport.
It is good practice to use escorts for the transport of children who are:
- Under school age;
- Have behavioural/emotional difficulties;
- Are particularly vulnerable when taxis or voluntary drivers are used.
If financial circumstances adversely affect adults attendance for contact visits then assistance should be given to facilitate attendance. Public transport should be used in the first instance unless there are circumstances which preclude this.
Appendix A
Definitions
Levels of Contact consistent with risk:
Level One High Risk:
| 1. | Supervised Contact
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| 2. | Supported Contact
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| 3. | Unsupervised Contact
The majority of requests for contacts are for total supervision. There is an increasing trend of longer contacts of 4 plus hours, often for 5 days per week. Total supervision of these does not fulfil any purpose except to ensure a child's safety. If the risk is that great then this level of contact should not be given. |
Why Totally Supervise Contact?
Risk to child from adult(s) having contact:
| Physical Harm |
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| Emotional Harm |
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| Sexual Harm | CONTACT SHOULD NOT TAKE PLACE BETWEEN ALLEGED PERPETRATOR/ CHILDREN |
Assessment of Parenting Skills
Inappropriate conversations
- Criticism/Blame to child;
- Messages passes to/and from;
- Relationship between adult having contact and alleged perpetrator.
Parents ability to meet the needs of children due to :
- Substance Misuse;
- Parental Relationship;
- Parental Health Issues;
- Parents volatility/unpredictable mood changes .
Assessment of Relationships
Initially all contacts should be supervised to enable an assessment of risk. Reviewed after 2 to 4 sessions.
A mix of supervised and supported contact in the Centre enables -
- Information to be gathered for assessment and decision making;
- Support and advice to "carers" in their parenting;
- Allows "carers" to feel they are totally responsible for their children;
- Allows "carers" to feel more relaxed and not being constantly assessed/
This also gives flexibility in the Contact Service. The staff resource can be used where need is greatest and promote positive parenting in areas that support is most needed.
If contact is changed to supported in Centre it should be made clear that it is felt that the child/ren are protected in this environment and it is not making presumptions that everything is okay and that the child/ren will be returned home.
If contact (or part) is moved to family home careful consideration should be given -
- Safety of child/ren;
- Staff safety;
- Message this is giving to parent(s) and child/ren.
It is accepted that contact in Centre is a false environment and that parent(s) and child/ren behave differently in their home environment therefore a true picture can emerge.
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