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SCOTTISH CHILD CONTACT CENTRES: CHARACTERISTICS OF CENTRE USERS AND CENTRE STAFF
CHAPTER SIX: KEY CONCLUSIONS
6.1 This chapter aims to briefly summarise the key messages on contact centre service provision, and the characteristics of centre users and centre staff, gained from both stages of this research.
Contact centre service provision
- Contact centres are provided by the voluntary sector as neutral, safe environments where contact can continue between a child and a non-resident parent. There is no single model of a contact centre. They operate within the constraints imposed by the limitations of their premises, the availability of staff and funding. At the time of the study, contact centre provision in Scotland was patchy; 13 of the 32 council areas in Scotland did not have any contact centres. Of those centres in operation at the time, opening hours were typically restricted to weekends, for an average of 5 hours per week.
- Contact centres see themselves as a stepping-stone to parents making their own arrangements for contact outwith the centre. Yet the majority of contact visits taking place are at the lower end of the spectrum on offer, i.e. contact taking place solely within the confines of the premises from which the child cannot be removed. A far smaller number of contact visits were 'exchange' contacts; i.e. the use of the centre as a place to pick up and drop off children, but with the rest of the contact visit taking place outside of the centre.
- Most of the contact centres' service provision comprised supported (low vigilance) contact. Just over half of staff (57%) had been asked to provide supervised (high vigilance) contact, and 31% had actually provided supervised contact. Provision of counselling and statutory supervised contact was made in only one of the contact centres included in this study.
Characteristics of families using contact centres
- The picture that has emerged is one of centres facilitating contact for families with children aged under 10, with the majority of contact parents using the centres being their fathers. For a sizeable minority of families using contact centres, issues such as domestic abuse, substance misuse and mental health problems were frequently reported, in both stages of the research.
Referral routes for families using contact centres
- Families were most commonly referred to centres by their solicitors, and just under three-quarters were referred by solicitors and / or the courts. Just under a fifth of families had referred themselves.
Characteristics of contact centre staff
- Contact centres in Scotland are largely staffed by volunteers, although most organising agencies stipulate that the overall running of centres must be undertaken by paid, qualified staff (and this, on the whole, appears to be the case).
- On the whole, levels of work experience relevant to contact centre work seemed to be high, and the provision of training for staff was seen by respondents as satisfactory. Much of this training, however, was provided on an informal basis.
Challenges facing centre staff & support provided
- Levels of reporting of episodes of physical violence and verbal abuse within the centre seem to be rather high (43% had been subject to verbal abuse and 58% had witnessed at least one episode of verbal or physical abuse directed at staff over the past 12 months). However it should be emphasised that none of the survey respondents had actually been subject to a physical attack within the centre. Such incidents were not reported by respondents as an element of the work that they found especially upsetting; witnessing centre users' distress was generally cited as the most emotionally taxing part of their work. Nearly all centre workers stated that they had some kind of support available to them in the centre when they found elements of their work upsetting; most of this support was in the form of informal support networks.
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