This report sets out the findings of the Evaluation of Children's Contact Centre Activity. Children's Contact Services (CCSs) facilitate the supervision of parenting time and changeover for families, most commonly where the parents are separating, or have separated, and require a safe and neutral venue to enable contact to take place.

This study evaluates the work and activity of these services. There are 64 services in scope for this evaluation, operated by not-for-profit providers. The evaluation is large-scale, mixed-methods comprising: 

• a desktop review of literature
• an analysis of administrative data
• an analysis of quantitative and qualitative data from a national survey of service providers, service management personnel, supervision staff and legal and non-legal professionals referring families to CCSs
• an analysis of qualitative data from semi-structured interviews with First Nations professionals working with First Nations families
• an analysis of qualitative data from the semi-structured interviews with parents or carers
• a survey of parents and carers, including the collection of data in relation to their children’s views and experiences of CCSs.

The objective of this evaluation is to consider the history of CCSs and the current context in which government-funded CCSs are operating, and to make an assessment of the extent to which:

• these services are operating in accordance with, and achieving the objectives of, the relevant guiding documents (including the Grant Opportunity Guidelines and the Guiding Principles Framework for Good Practice)
• how effectively these services are providing culturally appropriate service for culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) and First Nations populations and are supporting families experiencing domestic and family violence (DFV)
• the current number and location of CCSs are meeting existing demand for services.