Harpenden Child Contact Centre is a local Charity Registered Charity No:10786023 providing support to families by facilitating contact between children and their parents or other adults from whom they are separated, often following a family breakdown. Usually, the Centre opens on the 2nd and 4th Saturdays of each month providing facilities for up to 18 children, in the hall attached to All Saints Church in Station Road Harpenden. Sadly, all too often when relationships break down, the children can get caught up in the middle and contact between the child or children and the parent with whom they are no longer living, sometimes for very good reasons, sometimes less obvious, stops or reduces. Our aim is to provide a safe and friendly environment where the children can see their parents and, hopefully, we can help to rebuild trust between the parents. The Centre is entirely free for users: we rely on our loyal members who pay an annual subscription; an annual grant from the government; and donations.
We have four types of volunteer:
Volunteers to support the contact sessions
We have four teams of about 7 to 8 volunteers who each attend a contact session every two months, set up the hall and support the families where needed. No particular experience is required; training and support are provided. References and a DBS check are needed. Being a Volunteer is immensely rewarding. There are 4 teams, each with a Team Leader who works with the admin team in assessing the families and running the sessions. We welcome new volunteers to support the teams.
Trustees
HCCC is run by a small management committee of usually between 6 to 9 trustees. We welcome applications for new trustees, who are typically local people with an interest in supporting families and come from a variety of backgrounds. The main requirement is to want to help. Usually, the Trustees meet four times a year and attend an AGM. At the moment we are looking to recruit a couple more Trustees, both to support the work of the Committee and Centre and also we are looking for a new Chairman from May 2026.
Administrators
The administration of the Centre is carried out by two administrators with other admin support. They deal with the day to day running of the Centre, liaise with the Team Leaders, and report to the Trustees. There are also other admin tasks and at the moment we are looking for someone to take on the role of Volunteer manager, dealing with recruitment of new Volunteers and maintaining DBS and training records.
Friends
Our Friends are the financial bedrock of the Centre: they pay an annual subscription of £20 or more. They are invited to our AGM and are contacted usually at least once a year with an update about the Centre. They are not asked to play any active role in the running of the Centre
If you are interested in getting involved in any way and would like more information or know of families who might be experiencing difficulties in making contact arrangements, do please look at our website https://harpendenchildcontactcentre.org.uk; contact our administrators, at the email address of harpendenccc@gmail.com, or by phone at 07842 167767; or contact the Chairman, Brigid Brennan, at 07881 785299 or brigid.brennan@virginmedia.com.
A leaflet describing the work of the Child Contact Centre can be downloaded by clicking here.