Australia Children’s Contact Association Inc

ACCSA is a non-profit Association that promotes the need for the compulsory accreditation of all Children’s Contact Services (CCS), delivers and supports sector specific training, fosters information sharing and networking and advocates for increased resourcing for CCSs. They have created a handy checklist for those referring to a CCS and those needing to use one.

CCS Referral Checklist

Children’s Contact Services (CCS) aim to minimise a child’s exposure to conflictual or unsafe situations. They provide a safe, neutral and child focused service for supervised visits and changeovers to occur between children and their parents and other significant persons in the child’s life. ACCSA advocates that the emotional and physical safety of all involved in the process of using a CCS is of primary importance.

The purpose of this checklist is to assist those referring to a service, which provides supervised visits or changeovers, in identifying essential considerations that should be made prior to the referral:

The service undertakes a full intake and risk assessment prior to service delivery in every instance. (This would include interviewing both parents)
The service undertakes a child familiarisation /child orientation session prior to any service commencement in every instance.
The service will only proceed with service delivery if the assessment and child orientation provide evidence that it is safe for the child, adults and staff to do so.
The service will only proceed with service delivery if the service has the staffing capability and capacity to safely do so.
The service staff are suitably qualified and trained.
The venue is one which is suitable to the level of assessed risk involved.
The referral made is consistent with the CCS’s operating hours and service capacity
The CCS referred to is the closest CCS to where the child resides.
The “Model Orders for Supervised Visits and Changeovers at a Children’s Contact Service” have been used to formulate the referral.

Australia Children’s Contact Association Inc

CCS Referral Checklist

The purpose of this checklist is to assist those referring to a service, which provides supervised visits or changeovers, in identifying essential considerations that should be made prior to the referral:

The service undertakes a full intake and risk assessment prior to service delivery in every instance. (This would include interviewing both parents)

The service undertakes a child familiarisation /child orientation session prior to any service commencement in every instance.

The service will only proceed with service delivery if the assessment and child orientation provide evidence that it is safe for the child, adults and staff to do so.

The service will only proceed with service delivery if the service has the staffing capability and capacity to safely do so.

The service staff are suitably qualified and trained.

The venue is one which is suitable to the level of assessed risk involved.

The referral made is consistent with the CCS’s operating hours and service capacity

The CCS referred to is the closest CCS to where the child resides.

The “Model Orders for Supervised Visits and Changeovers at a Children’s Contact Service” have been used to formulate the referral.