A NEW centre to help children of separated families maintain a relationship with both parents is to open next month to replace a similar service closing this week.
Childcare provider Centrepoint will launch a child-contact centre from 2 July, following confirmation that Milli’s Separated Family Centre – which supported around 20 families a week from their base in the Parade – will stop running their version of the service on Sunday.
The scheme offered support for separated families by providing a safe environment for children with the possibility of volunteers escorting them between parents.
However, the charity’s founder, Denise Carroll, said regulations introduced within the past two years had resulted in unnecessary ‘tick-box’ exercises for volunteers and had redefined ‘contact’ in a way that made it ‘impossible’ for them to keep operating.
After the closure was announced, Children’s and Education Minister Inna Gardiner said ‘potential options’ to meet demand for the service were being explored.
Government funding of £81,000 has since been granted to allow Centrepoint to run the service from their La Pouquelaye base for the next 12 months.
The service will remain independent of government and will be registered with the Jersey Care Commission and the National Association of Child Contact Centres.
Centrepoint chief executive Jane Moy said: ‘Our primary concern is for the wellbeing of children, so establishing the centre will allow parents to continue to maintain a relationship with their child in the crucial early stages of family breakdown.’
Deputy Gardiner added: ‘I know that many families rely on Milli’s Child Contact Centre to have valuable time with their child or children and it plays an important role in their lives.
‘I am very pleased that Centrepoint will provide this service and I’d like to thank Milli’s for all the support they offered to children and families. It is especially important that the families who use this service will have continued access to a safe, welcoming, and independent service. I wish everyone involved in this new child-contact centre all the very best.’
