£81k funding to launch new parent-child contact centre

Monday 19 June 2023

Childcare provider Centrepoint is launching a new centre to help children of separated families to maintain a relationship with both parents after the previous service was forced to close.

Milli’s Separated Family Centre will close its doors for the final time on Sunday.

Milli’s Separated Family Centre – which supported around 20 families a week – 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 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.

Today, she announced that a new Centrepoint-run centre will open at Le Pouquelaye on 2 July and run for the next 12 months following an £81,000 funding boost.

The new Centrepoint 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."

Pictured: Children and Education Minister, Deputy Inna Gardiner.

Jersey Family Court Advisory Service (JFCAS) Manager Eleanor Green thanked Milli’s "for the vital work they have undertaken over the years".

She said: "We are delighted to see that the children and families we work with in the Family Court will have the benefit of this new centre, which will continue to ensure there is a safe, independent space for children to see a parent where there might be barriers due to family separation."