Moving away from a contact centre

[Anon987654321]

Name changed as I am posting for a friend who is not on MN. Does anyone have experience of moving away from a contact centre please.

My friend's ex DP has been seeing their 4 year old at a contact centre because she does not trust him to keep LO safe. He has a history of mental illness, is unable to cope with the stresses of life in general and parenting in particular so binge drinks to cope. He was drunk whilst in sole charge of LO on more than one occasion, which is why they are no longer together.

Attendance was voluntary as it was the only way she would allow him access until he could prove that his drinking was under control and he was seeking help for his MH issues. He has not done this.

He hates the Contact Centre so took my friend to court for unsupervised access. CAFCASS completed a safeguarding report which recommended that the current arrangements remain in place whilst a Section 7 report is completed. They are going to ask for his medical info as he claimed in court that he is 'cured'.

If the Section 7 report is satisfactory they will have to begin to move away from the Contact Centre using stepped arrangements.

Does anyone have experience of this please? Did CAFCASS recommend the steps? How was it monitored? How did it work out?

Thank you for reading

Following also. No advice but interested to see.

Hello, family solicitor here so I can give you a real perspective of what happens in my cases.

If a progression in contact is recommended and ordered, it could be a couple more sessions at the contact centre (with notes from a Supervisor maybe) then progression to supervised in the community maybe (Park etc), then maybe for longer hours, then unsupervised, then dull days, then overnight etc etc...

All depend on individual circumstances and concerns however.

Hope that helps!

I used to manage a contact centre. We had clients who were allowed to take their lo's off site to the park, bowling, soft play, McDonald's etc. The resident parents dropped with us between 9.45&10am and the other parent picked up between 10.15&10.40, the process was then reversed at 3.15-3.30/ 3.45-4. Most did every other week. All had done at least 6 weeks supervised and were cleared for unsupervised contact but in most cases there were not suitable to have children overnight and the relationship between parents was completely broken

Thank you for the info Mani and Moto - I don't know how to tag. The progression you described is useful to know although supervision in the community is an interesting one as it is unclear who would supervise the contact as neither will accept the friends or family of the other parent as supervisors and ex will not accept my friend as supervisor; not that she is keen to do it but would do to keep LO safe.

My ex is currently having supervised contact in a contact centre, it's fortnightly and he's been having it since January.. The judge has said unsupervised is not appropriate at this point due to findings of emotional, physical, mental and verbal abuse to me and he's made findings of child abuse also.. He's asked the local authority where we used to live to do the section 7 and suggest how unsupervised contact could be reestablished.. I'm not sure it ever again. The incident the judge found fact in, he could've killed our daughter. That evil mentality is deep within him and he doesn't know how to behave like a normal and decent father. Just interested in knowing if contact can be supervised for a very long time?

Thank you again. I did write a response a week ago but it did not post.
@Pebbledashery I have read your heartbreaking posts and whilst my friend's ex is not as abhorrent your ex she does fear that he will never be capable of lone parenting.
This is because at the first sign of stress he drinks. He lives with his parents so his life is relatively stress free but when they lived together at the first sign of a problem ne needed a drink to cope.
@Mani2021 your suggestion as to how contact may progress from the centre is the sort of info she was looking for thank you.
@motogogo the contact centre have asked if ex can take LO to park during his contact time and she has refused because there is a big lake in the park and ex spends so much time glued to his phone she can't be confident he will watch her properly ( he has history). Nor can she be confident he won't have vodka in his water bottle ( he has history of this too). This is why she is reluctant to let his friends and family supervise contact.