Child Focused Community Based
Contact Visits
Contact Visits are often times a necessity in the early stages of separation.
Holding Hands Family Services offers its families community-based visits in familiar locations that provides a sense of normalcy during times of change in the child's life
Our service maintains a child-focused approach that minimises the opportunity to conflict. From seperate meeting points, the discretion of our trained Contact Workers monitoring each visit and our detailed visit report, Holding Hands Family Services provides a service that is #alwayschildfocused
Start Your Journey with Our Podcast
Specifically designed for parents entering the children's contact service at Holding Hands but useful to parents going through separation, the #alwayschildfocused podcast has four sections to provide separating parents with information about our Children's Contact Service and the wider family court sector:
#alwayschildfocused:contact are the podcast's introductory episodes. Perfect for parents enquiring about children's contact visits.
Episodes for new families:
Welcome to Contact: Our first episode and an introduction to our service and our key people.
Intake Assessments: In our second episode, Jakki and Ben cover our intake assessment interviews - why they are important and what to expect.
Welcome to Contact: Our first episode and an introduction to our service and our key people.
Find out about each episode and more here
Our Intake Process
Our intake process begins when parents complete and submit their referral forms. From there, parents undertake a thorough Intake Assessment with a Senior Contact Worker who will assess the families suitability to use our service. The intake assessment will also highlight each families unique requirements.
The intake assessment is also used by the service to allocate an appropriate Contact Worker who will then meet your child for the first time at a Child Familiarisation Session. This session is at the heart of our #alwayschildfocused approach.
Contact Visit Locations
Since we offer community based Contact Visits, our Contact Workers can undertake Contact Visits in many public locations across New South Wales including:
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The Sydney Metropolitan Area
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The Newcastle and Hunter Regions,
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The Central Coast
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Wollongong and Illawarra Regions
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The Blue Mountains and surrounding regions.
Whilst our intake process is managed through our head office in Sydney, each region has its own appointed Senior Contact Worker.
This process allows parents living in different regions to have a consistency of quality in situations where visits are being held across multiple regions.
Our Contact Visits
Our Service operates community based contact visits for families that successfully pass through our intake process. Community visits allow the visiting parent to spend time with their child in everyday locations.
Locations are assessed by our team as appropriate for contact visits based on the age of the child/ren and the suitability of the activities offered at that location. The service also considers the availability of separate, safe meeting points. The Service also provides families with an appropriate inclement weather location.
Meet Our Team
Led by our Service Manager, Jakki Schwartz, our team of Contact Workers come from a range of social work and welfare backgrounds.
Contact Workers receive comprehensive training prior to being allocated their first family and participate in continuous training including regular training sessions with guest speakers from across the family law sector.
Our families also benefit from sessions with our Post Separation Support team who can provide clarity and confidence during their journey through contact arrangements.
Parent Support Program
We understand adjusting to changes after separation is a difficult and challenging time. Holding Hands is here to help provide ongoing support to assist parents to strengthen their relationship with their children after the change of separation.
Our Parent Support Specialists support parents with practical guidance, parenting skills and techniques to navigate the complexities of life after separation.
