Dr. Carol Coulter:

It is very inadequate. Supervised access can be a nightmare for parents whose children are in care. Of course, not all access is supervised; it can be at a relative's house or even going home for weekends. There is considerable variation in the conclusions especially when a family is going to be reunified. That happens much more frequently in our childcare system than in the UK. After a period in care, children may go home and they will lead up to that with weekends. I am not talking about that. Where the CFA is organising access and there can be logistical difficulties, access can take place in basically an office. It is not always appropriate. If it is supervised, people are being observed and if the final order has not been made - the final order will be many months after an interim care order is sought - they feel that everything they do with their child will come up as evidence in the ongoing child-protection proceedings. Contact centres, as they have been described, would be a significant improvement on what exists for people in the child-protection system compared with what they often experience now.