The North Hampshire Child Contact Centre has been initiated by, and the management committee is made up of, members from the North Hampshire Downs Mothers’ Union. They live in the villages just outside Basingstoke and the Child Contact Centre is being held at Hook near M3 J5 and the mainline train between Basingstoke and Fleet. Both Basingstoke and Fleet have child contact centres with waiting lists.

The volunteers to support the project have come from the village church congregations and from local school connections. This has enabled outreach by Mothers’ Union members to other supporters, and from the whole community (led by the Mothers’ Union) to the communities across the area.

The Child Contact Centre’s sole purpose is to enable parents, and sometimes grandparents, to rebuild relationships with children residing with estranged former partners. Contact is usually ordered by the courts. Those who have volunteered to help with sessions have been specially trained to facilitate resident parents who are reluctant about letting estranged partners have access to their children, and also care for children who may be very torn over which parent to please.

The North Hampshire Child Contact Centre would welcome your prayers for its volunteers and clients as it starts providing this vital and much needed service to the local community.

More information about how the project has been set up will be available on this website soon, and in the summer edition of our Diocesan Newsletter ‘Archway’.