Children’s Contact Service in Sale

At Better Place Australia supervised contact centre in Sale, we offer families three services.

Supervised Contact

Supervised contact means that our staff are present during a visit with the child to support the relationship between the child and the person they are visiting. Staff make observational notes during the visit that are available to both parents by request (fees apply). Most sessions of supervised contact run for a 2-hour period.  All our staff are suitably qualified to work in community services, social work or psychology. Parents do not need to see one other and any safety risks are assessed and managed by the service.

Supported Contact

This service is similar to supervised contact, however, staff are not always within close proximity to the children and the visiting parent. Instead, staff support the child with the transition between parents and then monitor the visit using sound and video technology.  Staff still make observational notes and intervene if necessary. Supported contact is not usually offered for the first few visits. It is usually commenced when staff have not observed any concerns on previous supervised visits.

Changeover Services

We also provide a service that assist families manage the transition of care for children between one family member and another. This can help to reduce the stress for everyone, especially children, when family members are feeling anxious or concerned about the interaction. Parents do not need to see one another and any safety risks are assessed and managed by the service.

With our services, we also offer the following:

Substantial Connection Time

Most supervised visits run for 2 hours. We may start with a shorter time depending on the age of the children and the length of time.

Fun, Welcoming Environment

We strive to accommodate all children and parents. We have two separate playrooms for families and a communal dining/ kitchen space within the main building.  Outside, the garden has a picnic table, trampoline, sandpit and plenty of room to play games and ride bikes.

Accessibility

We strive to accommodate all children and parents and have toilet facilities suitable for those with mobility issues. Please ask for further details.

Parents, carers and referrers can fill out the short Request for CCS Application Form online.

The Better Place Australia Children’s Contact Service requires application forms from both parents to proceed to the Intake and Assessment stage. Once application forms have been received, both parents will be contacted for private individual intake interviews. Fees are shared between both parents unless otherwise specified in Court Orders.

We aim to provide services to families as soon as possible. We understand that prolonged separation from children can be distressing for parents and children alike. Hence, our process for beginning your services after you apply is:

1. After applications are received from both parents, we schedule individual meetings with both applicants as soon as possible. These meetings are often via Zoom.
2. Following this, we invite the child (or children) to visit the service so we can meet them, show them around and explain the purpose of coming to the centre and how we can support them. We call this the Child Readiness visit. It is designed to ensure that a child is informed, comfortable and supported at the first visit.
3. After we’ve had conversations with the family members about who will be coming to the service, we are ready to start.

Note the following:

• Depending on parent/child availability, the intake process generally takes 2-4 weeks.
• Ongoing visits are generally scheduled on weekdays for families with preschool children. Families with school age children get priority for Saturday visits, which are in high demand.
• For Saturday services, there can be a waiting time of up to a few weeks to start intake for families, so it is best to act as soon as possible.