The Children and Families Truth Commission (CFTC) has published a guide offering support to parents and children who are experiencing supervised contact.

The guide has been written by Rachel Wigfall, a child protection-experienced mother who wanted to offer families support during supervised contact after her own experience with this kind of child contact.

While the Commission is very clear on the importance of reducing unjust child removals and inappropriate orders for supervised contact, it is also aware that many families are having to experience this form of contact and so additional support may be welcome.

The Commission also encourages the submission of guides and other documents produced by care and family court-experienced parents and children, and Rachel is a mother with family court experience.

This is what Rachel says about the guide:

“I created a leaflet for parents having supervised contact as I do not believe there is much support out there for this situation. I having been through this myself I know how daunting and uncomfortable it feels.

For older children it can be uncomfortable for them as well as the parents so I added some fun checklists for parent and child to go through they could plan what they would like to do in the next session.

I also understand that not every parent understands or knows how to play so the checklist helps in various ways.”

Rachel is an ambassador for a registered charity called BEAM [Be A Mother], which is a peer to peer support service for mothers who have had their children forcibly removed.

The charity was founded by former family law barrister Cherie Parnell, after representing mothers who lost their children to the care system.

You can open the guide by clicking on the image below, or you can access it through the Commission’s Guides Page.

The leaflet can also be read alongside the Commission’s Rights Booklet, which has information about how to ensure your rights and your child’s rights during contact are respected, including making sure you have the maximum amount of contact for your case. You can find this information on Page 6 of the booklet.

Researching Reform’s post, “Contact with children in care – what parents should know” may also be useful.

The Commission would like to thank Rachel for allowing it to include her leaflet in its Guides section.