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BUILDING BRIDGES? - EXPECTATIONS AND EXPERIENCES OF CHILD CONTACT CENTRES IN SCOTLAND
ANNEXES
CONTACT LETTERS
November, 2001
Dear Parent,
Contact Centres: Expectations and Experiences
You recently agreed to take part in research being carried out by The National Centre for Social Research, an independent research institute, exploring people's views about child contact centres. The purpose of the study is to talk to people about their expectations and experiences of contact centres. This will help the Scottish Executive, and the centres themselves, to understand what people think of the centres, and to plan future services. We will be talking to parents who are using, and who have used, contact centres across Scotland.
We have been unable to contact you by phone but would very much like to include you in the research. If you agree to take part it would involve an informal interview which would last no longer than an hour and a half, and everyone who takes part in the research will be given 15 as a token of thanks for their help. We are currently working in your area and will be conducting interviews between now and early December, 2001. The research will be carried out confidentially and anonymously. We will not pass on the names of those taking part to anyone outside the research team, and nothing will be reported in a way that could identify anyone.
We very much hope that you are still willing to take part, if you are could you please contact me on 0131 557 5494or[mobile number]. If I am not able to take your call please leave a message with a contact phone number so that I can return your call. I look forward to hearing from you.
Thanks again,
Kerry Sproston
Research Director
Dear - ,
RESEARCH STUDY: SCOTTISH CHILD CONTACT CENTRES PHASE 3
(REFERRER AND FAMILY EXPECTATIONS AND EXPERIENCES)
I am writing in accordance with the agreed procedures to seek your approval for access to the following Sheriff Courts for research into users' expectations and experiences of child contact centres. Support for the research has been agreed by the Scottish Executive Justice Department, subject to satisfactory arrangements being agreed for access. I have written in similar terms to [list].
As you are aware, the Scottish Executive Justice Department has been commissioning research into the impact of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 upon the lives of children and their families, as well as its impact on court practices and procedures. It is particularly interested in research examining how the principles of the Act are applied in practice. In particular, the Act promotes the principle of joint parenting, and child contact centres represent an important service available to families in transition. They are neutral venues which exist to promote and support contact between parents, guardians and other family members and children who do not live together. Centres are used when a difficulty exists in establishing or re-establishing contact. The difficulty is not confined solely to situations where there is contact between the parents. Other reasons include fears of abduction, no relationship with the child or a long gap in contact.
Contact centres are operated by a number of voluntary organisations, and are staffed by a mixture of paid and voluntary workers. It is likely that there are differences between centres in the way they function. This potential diversity across contact centres in Scotland is one of the factors influencing the proposed research study. Phase 1 of the research in to contact centres (a survey of user characteristics) hypothesised that 'if there is diversity in services offered by centres then this could lead to confusion for referrers and families and to the potential for inappropriate referrals'.
The researchers are working through a number of interviews with contact centre workers and associated agencies, families who are currently or who have previously used contact centres, and with referrers to contact centres. Families are referred to centres from a variety of sources including courts, solicitors, social workers, self referral and health workers. The Phase 1 report found that three quarters of families were referred to contact centres by solicitors and / or the courts, and about one half of families using contact centres had court orders in place. Some family law solicitors have already been interviewed regarding their experiences in referring families to child contact centres. However, it also appears that research on the expectations and experiences of sheriffs as contact centre referrers would be extremely valuable to this study.
There are 3 parts to this phase of the research on contact centres ( see attached annex) but access to the courts is only requested for the second stage. The research has been designed in this way with the explicit intention of reducing the demands on the courts and court personnel. The research is being conducted by a team from the National Centre for Social Research, on behalf of the Scottish Executive Central Research Unit. The research team is headed up by Kerry Sproston, the research director in their Edinburgh branch, and Kandy Woodfield, a director in their London branch.
Access required
The researchers would like to interview a maximum of two sheriffs in each court - total no of courts to be approached is 5 or 6. Interviews will focus on the expectations and experiences of contact centres from the point of view of the referrers who use them, the different types of provision available, and any improvements that sheriffs believe could be made to contact centre provision. If possible, the researchers would wish to talk to sheriffs with particular experience of dealing with family law cases.
Timetable
If access is agreed, interviews would be arranged to suit the convenience of sheriffs, but we would hope to have them completed by the end of November. The work will be carried out by three researchers (Kerry Sproston, Kandy Woodfield and Jill Keegan) from the National Centre for Social Research.
The project will be managed by Samantha Coope of the Scottish Executive Central Research Unit, Legal Studies Research Branch, and is being overseen by a Research Advisory Group. Should you require further information about the research then please do not hesitate to contact me or Ms Coope on 0131 244 4389.
Yours sincerely,
N.G. CAMPBELL
cc. Samantha Coope, LSRB, Central Research Unit, Room U1-13 Saughton House
APPEDIX A ANNEX
RESEARCH SCHEDULE - CHILD CONTACT CENTRE RESEARCH (PHASE 3)
The work is being conducted in 3 stages:
Stage 1 - Classification of contact centres, mapping of user families and mapping of referral patterns.
Stage 2 - Research with workers, referrers and associated professionals. All fieldwork in this stage will take the form of focus group interviews, with the exception of sheriffs who, pending permission from sheriffs principal, will be interviewed individually.
Stage 3 - Research with families currently using, or who have previously used contact centres. The methodology for this stage has yet to be finalised but is anticipated to involve a mixture of focus group and individual depth interviews.
SAMANTHA COOPE
LSRB
31 st August 2001
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