Children's Contact Services in Australia: The Referral Process

Abstract

In Australia, the possibility of using a Children’s Contact Service arises in a relatively small number of cases, but on a regular basis. This chapter, like the previous chapter, draws on the findings of a recently completed project on Children’s Contact Services. While the previous chapter looked at families’ movement through Contact Services and on to self-managed contact, this chapter looks at entry into Contact Services, in particular, referral agents’ accounts of the process of referral to Children’s Contact Services, the types of court orders made for supervised contact or changeover, and the contents of those orders. It also looks at the factors identified by referral agents as prompting an increase in recent years in the number of orders for the use of Children’s Contact Services, and the impact of the advent of Children’s Contact Services on their legal practices. The chapter concludes by identifying best practices for referral to Children’s Contact Services to emerge from the project.