Better Together, a leading provider of social services in the Tableland’s community, is proud to announce the opening of a new Children’s Contact Centre at their Mabel St Community Centre. The newly refurbished facility provides a safe and comfortable space for children to maintain contact with parents they no longer live with and other family members in a safe environment.
The new Children’s Contact Centre is designed to meet the needs of families who are navigating the challenges of separation and divorce. The Centre will provide a neutral and secure environment for children to have contact with family members, while ensuring the safety and well-being of the children. The Children’s Contact Centre’s focus is the child’s safety, putting the child’s wellbeing above all else and puts children in control of the visit.
“We are excited to launch this new service the first on the Atherton Tablelands, which is a vital resource for families in our community,” said Claire Niyokwizera Children’s Contact Centre Coordinator of Better Together. “The Children’s Contact Centre will provide a safe and secure environment for children to maintain relationships with non-custodial parents and other family members, which is essential for their emotional and psychological well-being.” Claire, like the rest of the staff at the centre, are trained professionals with many years of experience in working with families.
Another important service available is supervised “changeovers” where parents can exchange their children in a safe and neutral environment without contact with the other parent. The other function of the centre is to provide a friendly environment for parents to have supervised visits that include rooms with toys and a small garden with a sand pit. The centre is a welcoming and safe environment to let kids feel at ease through the visit.
Up until now solutions for parents in these situations is to go to Relationships Australia in Cairns or meet at a parking lot or another public meeting place to exchange kids. This can be daunting for some parents facing domestic violence, but also very anxiety provoking for children.
The Children’s Contact Centre is now open and accepting clients, a “changeover” costs about $5 and a supervised visit is $20. The fees are kept low and no one will be turned away if they are facing financial hardship and cannot pay. For more information, please call 4091 3850 or visit our website at bettertogether.com.au
About Better Together
Better Together is a leading provider of psychological services in the community. They are dedicated to helping families in transition and providing support for children and adults in the community. Their services include Counselling, Case Management, Emergency Relief, Home Modification and Maintenance Service and General Community Support.
The Children’s Contact Centre is funded by the Department of Social Services and the Better Together team have strict guidelines and reporting required to run the centre.
