Abstract
Jolley, S. Tell Me A Story: Children's & Custodial Parents' Thoughts On Supervised Access
Supervised access and supervised access centres are relatively new phenomena worldwide. Access centres provide a place where a third party supervises the contact between the non-custodial parent and their child. The contact is generally supervised because of concerns related to the safety and wellbeing of the child when visiting with the parent. Often, the decision to use an access centre is made without consulting the children or providing them with a thorough understanding of why they are visiting at a centre.
This study involved 11 children aged between 7-14 years who were attending supervised access centres. During the interviews, the children developed a story suitable for other children to read which explained what happened during a visit at an access centre and how they felt about seeing their parent. The custodial parents were also interviewed about the child's past experiences that had lead to an access centre being used and concerns they had with supervised access.
The research found that some of the children understood neither the role of the centre, nor why they had to visit with their parent there. However, most enjoyed their visits and wanted to maintain contact with the non-custodial parent. Overall, their preference was that this contact continues to take place at the centre.
While the children felt safe at the centre, some custodial parents were concerned for their own safety when delivering children to or collecting them from the centre. There were also concerns about the ability of the centres to adequately supervise parents who were sex offenders.
As supervised access centres are such a new service, ongoing research to monitor and assess the effects of all aspects of the service and the families involved are essential.
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Community Psychology