Family Time Services

Enabling Family Time (EFT) is a Cafcass-funded service that can only be accessed through a referral from a Family Court Adviser (FCA). Parents cannot self-refer.

The service supports children to spend meaningful time with a parent they do not live with, or another important adult in their life, when families are involved in private law family court proceedings.

Our aim is to provide a safe, calm, and neutral environment where children can connect, reconnect and strengthen important family relationships in a supportive and positive way.

The service aims to:

• Provide positive family time experiences
• Keep children’s voices and needs at the centre of the work
• Support progress towards future family time arrangements and/or Our Child’s Plan

What to expect

Family time sessions typically include:

• Up to three sessions
• Approximately 90 minutes per session
• Usually one session per week, unless otherwise agreed
• Face-to-face sessions (virtual sessions only where specifically requested by Cafcass)
• Support from trained family time workers
• Sessions held in safe, suitable locations
• A factual session report submitted to the allocated Family Court Adviser following each session

For more information about Enabling Family Time, please visit the Cafcass Enabling Family Time page or view the Information Guides available below.

Planning Together for Children is a course that supports parents to think about the needs of their children first when they are working out how they can parent together, as they are separated. It supports parents to think carefully about what is in children’s best interests and to do their best to work together to protect children against some of the harmful effects of parental conflict.

• Planning Together for Children encourages parents to think about how they can communicate and work together to agree parenting arrangements without the need for more court hearings.
• The course helps parents, or those who care for children, to understand how disagreements and arguments can affect children.
• Parents may be ordered, or directed, to complete Planning Together for Children by a family court. The course is free. Parents cannot refer themselves to the course.
• CANW supports parents in Cumbria, Greater Manchester and Lancashire to complete the course.
• For more information, please visit the Cafcass website Home – Cafcass – Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service or view factsheet (link at the bottom of the webpage ‘PTC Factsheet’)

What does Planning Together for Children involve?

• Stage One is for parents to complete an e-learning course online, in their own time (taking up to two hours). This focuses on topics such as what happens if parents go to court, understanding and managing emotion, how separation affects children, and looking at things from a child’s point of view.
• Once Stage One is complete, parents take part in a workshop (Stage Two) with other parents for more learning and discussion. These workshops are delivered online as a live video call. It covers topics such as understanding the impact of conflict on children, how separation affects children, and communicating in positive ways.
• Finally, the course introduces parents to an interactive online parenting plan. The plan encourages agreement over sharing the care and support of children. The parenting plan is an optional part of Planning Together for Children however sometimes Cafcass or Court have told parents to complete this.

If there is no one to support child arrangements, then professional supervised contact may be suitable. This may be when there are risks, there has been a long gap in contact, when a child is reluctant or when parents cannot find a solution themselves. We support children who live with a parent, are in Foster Care or who are living with a connected person.

We offer professionally supervised contact at our centres that are accredited by NACCC.  Summary reports of the sessions can be provided to support decisions about child arrangements. Staggered arrival and departure times are in place to ensure that children do not witness conflict. Sessions can take place face to face in our centre in Bolton or Blackburn. These sessions are up to 90 minutes. The price is £125 per session or £225 to include a summary report.

This is a fortnightly service which takes place at our Bolton centre. The first session runs from 8.55am -10.25am, with the visiting parent arriving at 08.40am and leaving at 10.40am.  Session two runs from 11.00am – 12.30pm, with the visiting parent arriving at 10.45am and leaving at 12.45pm.

The price is £40 per session which includes an attendance record.

Supported Family Time supports children and parents to spend time together within a contact centre. Staff are present but do not listen or observe individual children but rather have an overview of the whole group. Direct observations are not made, and reports are not written. Staff are present to ensure the comfort of those engaging in the service. A range of toys and activities are provided for all age ranges.

Saturdays:

This is a fortnightly service which takes place at our Bolton centre. There are three options for supported handover.  The first session is that the non-resident parent arrives at 8.40am, the child arrives at 8.55am, with the session running from 9.10am -10.10am.  The child leaves at 10.25am, with the non-resident parent leaving at 10.40am.  For session two. The non-resident parent arrives at 8.40am and the child arrives at 8.55am.  The session runs from 9.10am – 12.15pm, with the child leaving at 12.30pm and the non-resident parent leaving at 12.45pm.  For session three, the non-resident parent arrives at 8.40am, with the child arriving at 8.55am.  The session runs from 9.10am – 4.15pm.  The child leaves at 4.30pm and the non-resident parent leaves at 4.45pm.

Wednesday and Thursday:

This is a fortnightly service which takes place at our Bolton centre.  There are two options for mid-week supported handover.  For the first session, the non-resident parent arrives at 09.45am, with the child arriving at 10.00am.  The session runs from 10.15am – 11.45am.  The child leaves at 12 noon and the non-resident parent leaves at 12.15pm.  For the second session, the non-resident parent arrives at 09.45am, with the child arriving at 10.00am.  The session runs from 10.15am – 4.00pm, with the child leaving at 4.15pm and the non-resident parent leaves at 4.30pm.

The price is £30 per session which includes an attendance record.

Supported Handover supports children and parents when an independent handover is difficult. Parents can handover their children either face to face or through staff before unsupervised contact takes place. Direct observations are not made and reports are not written.

Spring (Separated Parents Resolution, Information, Navigation, Growth) is a bespoke support intervention programme that helps co-parents improve child arrangements and their communication and reduce conflict through a Parenting Plan. Parents work together with a Family Practitioner to improve things for their child/ren by offering conflict resolution. When conflict is not resolved and arrangements do not work well, it can have a negative impact on children.

This service is not currently funded, please contact BwD Early Help or Family Hubs for support.