THE MINISTER for Children, Barry Andrews, will announce the setting up of two child contact centres in Dublin in the coming weeks, he indicated yesterday.
Mr Andrews was opening a seminar on the need for child contact centres to facilitate meetings between children and their parents in situations of family breakdown. A report on the subject by Candy Murphy and Louise Caffrey of One Family was launched at the seminar, which also heard speakers describe how such centres worked in Northern Ireland and the UK. The research was funded by the Family Support Agency.
Welcoming the report, Mr Andrews said there was now an opportunity to address many of the failings of the past for children in the care of the State and those living with their families in the community but who needed supports and interventions.
The need for ongoing contact between children in care and their parents and family members was included in the Government’s Ryan Report Implementation Plan. In addition, many children and parents required access to a safe, neutral and welcoming environment in which to maintain contact. This research dealt with this need.
He said he had been in discussions with One Family, Barnardos, the Family Support Agency and the HSE about how to progress ways in which such contact centres could be put in place. A proposal to test models of provision was now at an advanced stage, and he hoped to be in a position soon to announce details of funding arrangements for two such centres on a pilot basis.
Describing the research, Ms Murphy said the experience internationally showed child contact centres worked best when they were professionally run, with access to therapeutic and mediation services to help in reducing conflict between the parents. International research showed that parental conflict impacted negatively on children.
Child contact centres would be used in three ways: to facilitate picking up and delivering children in a neutral environment, to provide supports and a child-friendly environment for contact meetings, and to provide for supervised contact. They should not be over-used, and contact should be moved to more “normal” environments as early as possible.
At the moment inconsistent and ad hoc arrangements prevailed in contact disputes in Ireland, she said. Supervised access was usually supervised by a friend or family member, which professionals and parents considered unsatisfactory. Parental concern about this type of contact often led to repeat court appearances aimed at getting arrangements changed.
“There was general agreement that specialist contact centres should be available and that these centres should be child-centred, accessible, discreet, safe and locally based,” she said.
The international experience also showed that the users of such centres were primarily people of limited means, so such centres should be free, she added.
It is roughly estimated that between 0.14 and 0.3 per cent of children may require the services of a child contact centre, leading to a need for about 37 centres nationally. If they were to follow the Northern Ireland model, with some offering provision for supervised contact services and the remainder for the less intensive supported contact centres, this would translate into eight supervised contact centres and 29 supported contact centres.