Family time contact services

The London Borough of Barking and Dagenham (LBBD) has a duty to promote reasonable contact under section 34 of the Children Act 1989. Section 34 places a duty on Local Authorities to allow the child in its care, reasonable contact with their parents and 'other persons' prescribed within s34 (1) of the act.

LBBD’s Family Time Contact in- house Team, which forms part of the Councils Specialist Intervention Service (SIS), provides supervised contact for children living away from a parent or other significant adult because they are deemed to have suffered significant harm, or are at risk of suffering significant harm. Supervised contact takes place for families which are under the care of the local Authority including those who are subject to an Interim Care order, Section 20 or Full Care Order.

The Family Time Contact Team provides court- directed supervised contact sessions for families of children under the care of the local authority in a safe and neutral place, using contact supervisors who support parents to develop their parenting skills in line with the child’s welfare. The team helps to promote and sustain a child’s relationship with their families where it is safe to do so, or while decisions are being made about their future.

Supervised contact is delivered primarily in the borough in several buildings and venues such as children centres, community hubs, in the community and other paid venues as required if capacity cannot be met. Supervised contact can also occur outside of the borough if the host family’s location is further afield.

Due to the approaching expiry of existing contracts under the Family Time Contact Framework Agreement, the London Borough of Barking & Dagenham is advertising to seek tenders from suitably experienced and qualified organisations for the provision of supervised Family Time Contact Services for Children in Need, Children in Care and Children Subject to a Child Protection Plan.

The new Framework seeks to commission multiple providers to receive Family Contact referrals directly from the Local Authority and deliver a Supervised Family Contact Service which:

• Provides a safe and neutral place for children to meet their parents or extended family in line with supervised contact arrangements.
• Ensures the safety of the child/children through a risk assessment which structure each contact.
• Provides a safe space for children and their families through Contact Supervisors who observe, record, and participate, as appropriate.
• Is safe and secure transfer of records between the Local Authority and provider.

Providers will need to be accredited by the National Association of Child Contact Centres (NACCC) to support the in-house Family Time Contact Team to meet current demand and ensure all families can have contact in a timely manner.

The level of contact for families is court directed and can range in both length of session and frequency.