Child Contact Centre

The Contact Centre has now been open in the church for over 16 months.  We usually have between 7 and 10 families which can mean we have anything up to 15 children at any one time.  It is lovely to see the church building filled with laughter, music and lots of noise while the children spend time and get to know their estranged parent and in a couple of cases their grandparents.
 Our referrals come from solicitors, CAFCASS, the family courts and in some cases the parents themselves.  One of the fathers comes from Leeds and another from Derby to be able to maintain contact with their children.   The Centre is also used as a “drop off” point where the parents can hand over the children at a neutral base especially in cases where one parent travels a long distance and does not have a home locally.  Most of the families use the Centre for anything between 3 and 9 months and it is always good to see them move on when they have been able to reach agreement on regular access away from the Centre.

 When we opened the Centre in March 2006 we were given very generous funding from Berkshire Community Foundation and it was a great surprise when they invited us to apply for top-up funding which they have subsequently awarded to us.  We were also thrilled to be chosen to receive a donation from Resolution which is a group of local Family Law solicitors.

 We have a regular group of very supportive volunteers without whom we would not be able to function every 2nd and 4th Saturdays but we would welcome anyone (male or female!) who has a couple of hours to spare now and then.  If you are interested and would like to know more please contact Jean Smith (Co-ordinator) 07726 324 5896