The Children's Contact Service is an independent, neutral service that enables parent and child changeovers for children of separated parents in a safe environment and provides facilitated, supervised contact.

The aim of the service is to support the child/children through positive interaction to maintain a meaningful relationship with both parents.

The service also provides a venue where changeover of children between parents can occur without exposing the child to parental conflict.

The foremost concern is the safety and well being of children. Our service understands the difficulties that are often experienced during and after separation and aims to provide a fair and practical service for changeovers and contact visits.

This Program is approved and funded by the Commonwealth Department of Family & Community Services and Indigenous Affairs.

Parent & Child Contact
Supervised contact is when a parent and their child/children spend time together at the Bethany site with a children’s contact worker present. Working with the visiting parent and the child, Bethany staff aim to develop and build the parent/child relationship at both practical and emotional levels through play, talk and positive interactions.

The main aim is to assist parents to develop skills to maintain positive contact with their child/children independently in the future.

Parent & Child Changeovers
Some families require assistance and support to ensure there is no conflict between parents at the time changeover occurs. The worker will facilitate the changeover of the child from one parent to another.

What can you expect from this service?
Supervised contact or changeovers take place in a child-friendly environment with trained and experienced staff. The centre provides separate entrances for parents and a safe and secure environment based on respect for children and parents alike.

Fees
Service fees are based on a scale depending upon income and apply to all families using the service.

Accessing the Service
Families accessing this service are required to have a Family Court Order in the initial phase and must have children up to the age of 12 (or under 15 if there are younger siblings) and both parents must agree to the Contact Services Guidelines.

Children under a Victorian Child Protection Order are not eligible to use the service

You or your legal representative can phone the service on 5278 8122 and speak with the Service Team Leader regarding eligibility.

Privacy and Confidentiality
Bethany complies with the Information Privacy Act when handling all personal information.

Information that you discuss with a worker will be treated in a confidential manner. If a moral or legal issue arises where there may be risk to yourself or others, we are legally obligated to report this.

At times the service may be required to write a report for the courts. This report will include relevant information regarding the service staff's observations and conversations with all parties. All parties will be provided with a copy of the report.