Unsupervised contact means that the contact takes place with no-one else there who has a specific role to facilitate, support or supervise the contact. Facilitated contact is where some support is provided for the contact such as a room in a Contact Centre or a Children’s Centre; and where possible, staff might greet everyone beforehand and pop in to ask if anything is needed. This would need to have been agreed with the setting prior to arranging the booking of the room.
Supervised contact involves someone who is allocated to be present throughout the whole session and a written record is kept. This sometimes happens because information about the parent(s) in contact sessions is needed to inform court proceedings. Another reason for supervising contact is for the child’s safety and welfare. Children Looked after and care leavers in Leeds have told us they have differing views about the language that should be used to describe contact, depending on their wishes and feelings.
