Interrelate's Children's Contact Service offers safe, neutral, flexible, and child-focused time for children and their families to spend time together. The aim of Interrelate Children's Contact Service is to support children to connect and build positive relationships with family members who they do not live with or are not connecting with outside our service.

Interrelate is a non-profit organisation that operates a Children's Contact Service (CCS) in various locations across NSW. These centres allow children to connect with the special people in their lives. The Family Law Court operates as a separate organisation established by Parliament to help families resolve complex legal matters.

Court Orders

All families can request to use the centre. Families may be introduced to the centre via a court order. The court order will specify that a child should have contact with their parent or significant adult through the CCS. At times, a court order will request that you contact Interrelate within a certain period of time with a view of undertaking an intake, an assessment before the use of the CCS. The CCS may have a waitlist and you may need to take action to ensure you are meeting the obligations of your orders. In these circumstances, please send us a copy of your court order to keep on file. Please ask Interrelate staff to record the date you contacted us in your file.

Suitability for services

To use the CCS, you will need to arrange an intake meeting. Both parties will undertake an intake and an assessment separately. This is where we gather information to work out if this service is suitable to your family needs. If it is not suitable, Interrelate will work with your family to understand why this decision was made. We can write a letter that you can provide to your solicitor to advise if we have determined the CCS as unsuitable for your family's specific circumstances.

Visitation Schedule

Once both adults have completed the intake and we deem the service is suitable to your family's needs, we will provide you with our availability to offer the CCS. Interrelate will organise where possible regular supervised visits, supported visit or change overs for the family. Sometimes what Interrelate can offer and what is specified in the court order differs. Interrelate are only able to offer specific times and days, which means that availability on certain days may be limited.

Subpoenas

After each visit, Contact Centre workers record notes about how the visit went. These notes contain information from what staff see and hear during the visit. These notes can be subpoenaed by the courts as part of the Family Law Court Proceedings.

During use of the CCS we may observe the following information but not limited to:

  • Conversation and interactions
  • Relationship development
  • Child focused behaviour
  • Arrivals and farewell's - including interactions and encouragement
  • Conversation and body language between parents (If Applicable)
  • Engagement between parents and child/ren in activities/play
  • Boundaries and limit setting
  • Safety and meeting child's needs
  • Responses to staff input and intervention
  • Gift giving
  • Photo taking
  • Debriefing with children and parents

Independent Children's Lawyer (ICL)

Once your Family Law proceeding is underway, the Judge may request an Independent Children's Lawyer (ICL) be appointed. The ICL acts on behalf of the children in your family court matter. The CCS coordinator may communicate with the ICL about how visits or changeovers are going. We provide factual information based on our observation reports and case notes. For more information about the ICL's role in Family Law proceedings, please visit: http://www.familycourt.gov.au/ and type ICL into the search bar.

For More Information

If you would like to know more about how  the CCS at Interrelate interacts with the Family Law Court, please visit: http://www.familycourt.gov.au/ or read the FAQs