Will States give charity a lifeline?

Sunday 22 June 2014

A town Deputy is calling on his colleagues to help save a local charity which helps children meet up with their estranged parents at the weekend.

At the moment Milli’s Child Contact Centre helps 39 children keep up a relationship with the parent they don’t live with - but it’s due to close at the end of the month after 14 years, because it doesn’t have enough volunteers.

Deputy Geoff Southern thinks its time the States recognised the importance of the charity and says divorce and separation can be more stressful to children than severe illness or the death of a family member.  He wants States Members to approve immediate funding so that the charity's founder Denise Carroll MBE can pay her team of volunteers, which will hopefully encourage more people to give up their time on Sundays.

The charity’s running costs were around £13,000 last year. It relies on donations which are mainly one-off annual grants.  

The St Helier Deputy wants the States to approve longer-term funding of £17,600 for the next three years and says it would be exactly the sort of co-operation between the States and Third Sector Services  - essentially voluntary groups and charities - the Health Minister proposed as part of her "A New Way Forward" policy.

Many of Milli’s families are referred through the courts. With the charity's help, one child goes once a fortnight to visit their parent at the prison, one dad flies in from Wales once a month, and one flies in from London once a fortnight.

The States will debate Deputy Southern’s proposition on 14 July.

You can find out more about the charity at www.millischildcontactcentre.com