Exeter Southernhay Child Contact Centre
Volunteering
Volunteer to help us
The Southernhay Child Contact Centre is always interested in hearing from people who feel they can spare the time to volunteer and help us and the children and parents that we support. We are currently actively recruiting new volunteers.
We Are looking For Volunteers Now !
“… suddenly the boys came running to me ..both shouting ‘Daddy! Daddy! Big hugs for each one”
“It was like a rugby scrum only for once I was crying. They had not forgotten me.”
Family Break-Ups
There were at least 1000 divorces in Devon in 2018. We all know someone who has experienced the break-up of a marriage or partnership. With these break-ups the majority of parents manage to agree on children keeping in touch with the absent parent. For a few families the concerns regarding domestic abuse, child protection and substance misuse can make good quality safe contact complicated.
In Exeter, we’re lucky because the city has the Southernhay Child Contact Centre. This is a safe and friendly place where an absent parent can see his or her children on neutral territory. Lots of toys and books for children of all ages help a parent to reconnect with their children after what can sometimes be a long absence.
The Volunteer’s Role
The Volunteer’s role is to facilitate successful contact providing a safe neutral venue (Contact is SUPPORTED not Supervised) in a safe and welcoming place. Our 14 volunteers help once a month on a Saturday morning or afternoon, training and expenses provided.
Open Alternate Saturdays
The Centre is open at Southernhay United Reformed Church on alternate Saturdays with three / four volunteer staff to support each session. Families self refer themselves for our free service. Referrals also from Mediators, solicitors and social workers.
Southernhay Child Contact Centre is Accredited by NACCC (National Association of Child Contact Centres
For further information contact
Ruth: 07775 158 808
Or use our contact us page for more information
All enquiries welcome.
Join Us
If you wish to volunteer please download the form in the link below and send it to us at the following address:
Southernhay Child Contact Centre,
c/o Southernhay Church,
Southernhay East,
Exeter, EX1 1QD.
Alternatively you can send us a message through our contact us page, or by using the phone number 07775 158808. You can download a volunteer form by clicking on the button below.
Data Security
All online personal data will be kept securely in our password protected computer files. Paper applications will be filed and kept in a locked cabinet. Only Southernhay Child Contact Centre volunteers will be able to access your information. You have the right to request that we delete your records once you cease to be involved with the Centre. Please see our Privacy Policy for full information.
About Volunteers
Child Contact Centre volunteers need to be discreet, impartial, caring, enthusiastic, tolerant, reliable and sensitive; cheerful but not artificial, assertive but not dominant, reassuring, able to build relationships while remaining impartial, able to deal with difficult situations and with parents under stress, prepared to work as part of a team where people exchange information and support one another.
Please note – all volunteers will need an enhanced CRB (now known as DBS the Disclosure and Barring Service) check to be completed before they can begin volunteering with us.
If you become a Child Contact Centre volunteer, you will be joining a group of people whose work has made, and continues to make, a very real difference for a significant number of families throughout the whole of the United Kingdom.
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