Bristol Child Contact Centre
About Us
Why Can We Help?
Adult relationships can remain difficult after parents separate.
Yet the majority of children want, and need, to maintain a relationship with parents and other relatives who are important to them.
Not all separated parents find it easy to achieve this. Trust may have broken down. Communication may have become difficult.
If so, it may seem almost impossible to make arrangements for a child to spend quality time with the parent or relative they no longer live with.
This is where we can help
Please see our Glossary of Terms page for help with understanding some perhaps difficult terminology, and what certain terms actually mean.
What is BCCC?
Bristol Child Contact Centre opened in 1990. Today it is one of about 350 centres in the UK, accredited by the National Association of Child Contact Centres (NACCC) (www.naccc.org.uk).
We are independent of any other organisation, and though the venue for our sessions is a church hall, we are not part of that church.
We welcome families of any faith or none, from all of Bristol’s communities.
Our sessions are run by experienced, fully trained and DBS checked volunteers, led and supported by the part time Coordinator of the Centre.
We operate as a charity and have to raise money ourselves to keep the service going.
We aim to provide a safe, neutral and comfortable place for children to see their non-resident parents or family. We do not take sides, nor do we offer counselling or mediation. The part we play is to put into practice agreements that have been made elsewhere, e.g. in family mediation, via solicitors, or the Family Courts.
Please note that all requests to use our service, regardless of the originator, must go through the secure online referral system, details of which are provided on the Referrals page of this website.
What, when and how often
The Bristol Child Contact Centre offers supported contact, so it is suitable for families where no significant risk to the child or those around the child has been identified.
It is open on the 2nd and 4th Saturday of each month from 10.00 – 1.00 and 2.00 – 5.00. Please refer to our Calendar for exact dates. Note some months have 5 Saturdays – this leads to a three week gap between contact sessions.
Most contacts happen once or twice a month and last for one and a half hours.
It is helpful to know whether families could attend either morning or afternoon.
For more general information about attending the BCCC please open the following printable leaflet Information for Parents
For people that are not familiar with the local transport, please refer to our Visit Us page for more travel information
Handover
If or when there is agreement for children to be taken out of the centre, we can provide a neutral ‘hand over’ point for the family, either within a session, or across the morning and afternoon.
Where parents come from
We serve all communities in and around Bristol, also accommodating a parent visiting from another area, or occasionally two parents each living at a distance, where Bristol may be a convenient ‘mid-point’ for contact.
Attending the centre
There may be a short waiting time before a new family can be fitted in. Then both parents are invited to attend the Centre separately on a Saturday for a preparation visit before the first contact visit. The non-resident parent is invited alone and the resident parent is invited with the child(ren).
There is no charge for this service after the initial £50 registration fee.
The key elements of our service are:
• Impartiality – i.e. we do not ‘take sides’ between the parents.
• Staff and volunteers are available for assistance but there is no close
observation, monitoring or evaluation of individual contacts/conversation.
• Several families will be together in one large hall.
• Encouragement for families to develop mutual trust.
• No detailed reports made unless risk of harm.
There needs to be at least one parent with the child at all times while at the Centre, but volunteers can deal with the hand over of children so that ex-partners do not need to meet, if they do not wish to. There is a separate waiting room for resident parents.
There is no charge to parents to use the Contact Centre. Tea, coffee, soft drinks, fruit and biscuits etc are available.
NACCC Accreditation
Bristol Child Contact Centre has achieved accreditation from the National Association of Child Contact Centres. It is a Company Limited by Guarantee, Number 3096959 and a registered charity, registration number 1049867
Bristol Child Contact Centre fully supports the NACCC Campaign #Lostparents. Visit the NACCC website to view details and a video on the Lost Parents Campaign
Click on the play button to view the video.
Next: Testimonials
Welcome to our news page. We will place things here from time to time to let you know what is going on. If there are any items in the section below you can open them up by clicking on the title or the Read More link at the end of the summary. The item will open in a new browser window.
First spring sunshine at the Centre
We welcomed the first spring sun in the Centre - here are some snapshots of Lorraine and the Team setting up the play area, ready for everyone arriving from 10am.
Fundraising at Greenway Market
On 30th March, we'll be fundraising for the Bristol Child Contact Centre at the Greenway Easter Market! Our team will be selling beautiful plants and pots. Spread the word, join us on the day and help support the Centre and the work that we do!
Welcome to our new website
Welcome to the new website for Bristol Child Contact Centre. If you cannot find what you are looking for on this website, or find an error somewhere please let us know through our contact us page.
Click on our sponsors for details of their services. All links open in a new window.
