Contact centre

[upups]

Has anyone gone through a contact centre for their ex getting to see there child? My ex is taking me to court to get contact with our son, I have only stopped contact just now until his current court case is over as I find it all too overwhelming. I was hoping to restart contact through a contact centre so they could rebuild a relationship before having unsupervised contact.
How can I do this? What does my ex need to have done in order for us to qualify to use a contact centre? If he does take me to court what is likely that he will get as far as contact goes?

Google contact centres near you. Lots are run by volunteers at Church halls at weekends. I used one and they were really helpful. Some simple paperwork to be completed by both parents.

They're ideal for little ones, but teens will be bored rigid. They are a good idea though.

If my ex refuses to agree to going through a contact centre though what would they do?

If a contact centre is deemed necessary by the court he doesn’t have a choice. One of my friends had contact with his child via a contact centre for a while.

I’m not sure that you alone can decide it - if I remember correctly, it has to be court ordered.

We used 2 different centres over the years - one in a sports centre and one in a church hall. It was a bit of a dull venue for the children but they said the volunteers were nice.

I stayed with the other resident parents in another room.

The only fault was that, as a parent who has been subjected to years of abuse, you were well aware the ex was just the other side of a door! I didn’t feel the volunteers could have stopped him doing anything. And of course he cried, bawled and told the children he was going to commit suicide throughout each visit and no one stepped in to ask him to stop it.

@Frith2013 god that sounds awful. I'm so sorry you and your children had to go through that. Yeah I was just wondering what my ex had to have done in order for the courts to consider supervised visits instead, right now he wants 4 hours a week alone with our son and I'm not allowing that.

I asked the ladies at a contact centre I went to, why they were there. She told me that they were kind of, independent witnesses.
I never did understand why the rp was so close, although apparently the non rp never knew they were there.